


Where He Lies

by kainess



Category: EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: Angst, Character Death, EXO - Freeform, Multi, kpop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-01-29 16:31:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 111,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12634866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kainess/pseuds/kainess
Summary: Baekhyun was normal despite being in a famous boy band. He had normal needs, wants, goals, etc. He was selfless and carefree. He had a lot to live for and was extremely grateful for each new day that was given to him. He was the one constant ray of sunshine in his members' lives.And then his personality starts to change. He's paranoid, anxious, fearful, and he's building walls around himself. He's dropping cryptic notes here and there in conversation as to let on that there was something more going on behind the scenes.In January of 2018 he disappears without a trace.---The members take investigation into their own hands when the police come up empty handed on Baekhyun's cold case two years after he disappears.





	1. It's raining again

**Author's Note:**

> **This story will contain sensitive issues that could be triggering to some in certain chapters, so I will make sure to put a 'M' in front of the chapter title in advance to let everyone know. Because I want it to show up I'm not labeling the story as M or TW.

Poster was created by [Teapeach](http://www.asianfanfics.com/profile/view/555021). Please check out her work~~

 

It's November 12, 2020. It's early Thursday morning and the members of EXO are solemnly getting ready for what they were sure would be one of the worst days of their lives. Junmyeon has been trying to mentally prepare the men for this day with sweet words of encouragement thrown to them here and there, but now that the morning is actually here they find Junmyeon just as quiet as the rest of the members. It was a lot harder to be optimistic now that they couldn't run from _it_ anymore. Sehun has been nervously fidgeting with the tie on his suit all morning to the point where Minseok had him take it off, claiming that he would "choke him to death with it if he didn't leave it alone," so naturally he decided that he would go without a tie. 

Today marked two years, eleven months, and twelve days since Byun Baekhyun disappeared during their break from touring. They thought by now that they would have found Baekhyun but if anything the strange case surrounding him only became more mysterious as police dug at it. Hours, days, weeks, and then even years ticked away and they never did hear from the talented vocalist again. They had hoped that maybe it was a prank he was playing on them at first, but that hope was pretty much demolished after the first week had gone by; Baekhyun was never one to intentionally cause worry among people.

EXO was still together and they did go on a brief six month hiatus after Baekhyun had first gone missing. There were rumors flying left and right at the time that they were going to disband now that Baekhyun was gone, but if anything the disappearance of one of their closest friends made the boys want to stick together even more. It became nearly impossible to get them separated for the first year; fear running through everyone's heads that someone else would go missing if they were to go anywhere alone. They were more relaxed now, but they still enjoyed it most when all eight of them were together. They were on another hiatus; their management knew that this week would be taxing for them and they were free from their schedule for the next two weeks before they'd be back promoting one of their upcoming albums. 

While they were still a normal band promoting together, things never really went back to normal after that. Jongdae and Kyungsoo had to take on even more lines and were pressured into making up for Baekhyun's absence in songs, which resulted in Jongdae straining his voice several different times with the pressure he was putting onto his vocals. There was still banter among the members but there was always an odd tension whenever things got silent or whenever Baekhyun was mentioned. In fact, the men often tried to avoid talking about Baekhyun's disappearance. They still spoke about the boy, however they acted as if he never went missing; always talking about him in present tense. Never past tense as so many people around them did. Park Chanyeol, Kim Jongdae, and Zhang Yixing took Baekhyun's disappearance the hardest. Of course all the members were close to him, but these three had been the closest to Baekhyun, especially Chanyeol. To Chanyeol, Baekhyun was his best friend. Losing him was one of the hardest things he's ever had to deal with and still is something that he has to deal with. He has to restrain himself several times a day from tagging Baekhyun in an Instagram post that he thinks he would like. It makes his heart sting every time. 

Last week the Gangnam Police Station had made an official statement that they would be closing Baekhyun's case despite public pressure until more evidence was found. It was currently a closed and cold case. On top of that they declared him legally dead. Naturally it was complete and utter chaos when this came out. The fans were livid, demanding that justice be served for Baekhyun and to not become just "another unsolved file" in the police department. It was chaos in the dorms as well. Chanyeol went into shock when he was told that not only were they giving up on the case but that they were also declaring Baekhyun dead. He had thought about the possibility of his best friend dying, but to hear it out loud from a police department had made it feel so much heavier than he ever expected it would. Kyungsoo went into complete shock and did not utter one single word for the next two and a half days while Jongdae walked straight out of the living room and into his bedroom with a loud slam of his door. Sehun and Jongin cried. The two cried a lot and no matter how much Minseok, Yixing, or Junmyeon had tried to comfort them it did absolutely no good. Minseok took the news rather well, but only because he felt he had to as the oldest member. His motherly instincts came out and he tried his best to ease all the members' pain. Yixing kept to himself, not wanting to bother anyone and while he didn't cry in front of anyone, he did later cry himself to sleep for the next three or four days. Junmyeon was at a loss; he had no idea what to do. As a leader it was his job to make sure that the members were okay, but at the same time he was also trying to deal with the loss of his member. He was never trained on how to handle this kind of situation. He was trained on how to deal with members walking out, but never disappearing and then becoming legally dead. It was all so much. 

And now it was Thursday; the day of Baekhyun's funeral. They avoided this day as much as possible, everyone refusing to talk about it (with the exception of Junmyeon) until the day arrived. They were all dressed in suits and Chanyeol wondered how any of them were going to make it through this. His parents would be there which would no doubt add fuel to their pain, and Wu Yifan, Zitao, and Luhan would all be there as well. It was a little overwhelming, but the men were secretly glad that their three former members would be showing their respect to Baekhyun. Jongdae didn't want to go and he had voiced it various times when they were sat down by their manager and told about the date of the funeral. The first thing out of his mouth was, "how is there going to be a funeral when there isn't even a body to bury?" That was the last time they talked about the funeral as a group. They were all crammed into a van that would drive them to the funeral. They knew it was bad, but they had all secretly hoped it would be quick. 

When they arrived they all remained seated in the van, no one wanting to get out and face this harsh and unforgiving reality. The first one out of the car was Kyungsoo who then helped Sehun and Jongin out. The two younger men were on the verge of crying again and this time no one stepped in to comfort them. It was inevitable; everyone would be crying for this. Jongdae was the last one to get out of the van, only getting out when Junmyeon had offered him gentle words of comfort. Jongdae was gripping onto Junmyeon's hand so tight that he feared it might fall off, but he wasn't about to have Jongdae let go of his hand. He was probably the worst member when it came to talking about his feelings, so Junmyeon was going to take what he could get.

The hardest part about having a funeral with no body was the lack of closure. To Chanyeol it meant that you couldn't say your last goodbyes to the person that was once so close to you. Open casket wasn't the same when there was nothing in there. Sure, it would have been unbearable if Baekhyun was actually in there, but at least he would have known for sure that he was dead. But when dealing with an empty casket it just feels...wrong. He feels like he's going to have this nasty, indescribable feeling with him for the rest of his life. He's staring down at the casket that has just a single photo of Baekhyun inside. He's staring with a sort of empty look in his eyes as his mind tries to register everything that's happened within the last two years. This was real; Baekhyun really went missing and Chanyeol was really standing at his funeral. It was becoming too much and he felt as if he couldn't breathe. It felt just like yesterday the last time he saw Baekhyun. The two of them were joking around over something stupid; something that he couldn't even remember. He probably would have made the conversation more serious if he knew it would be one of the last times he'd get to talk to him. He loosely pulls at his tie, feeling as if he would pass out in a few minutes if he wasn't able to breathe properly. He couldn't handle this anymore. It was becoming far too real for him. He turns away from the casket and hurries out of the room, the men watching but no one going to stop him.

Jongdae keeps his grip on Junmyeon's hand as he watches Chanyeol run out of the building. His gaze lifelessly wanders around the room before landing on the open and empty casket. He glances over at Junmyeon. He knew that he'd want to say his goodbyes before they left even if it was only to a framed picture of their former member. _Former_. He didn't like how that sounded. He didn't view Baekhyun as a former member but that's what the media was calling him. This felt like a really bad dream. A nightmare. "Junmyeon." Jongdae feels like he's in an out of body experience as he talks to the older. "We should say our goodbyes." His voice didn't even sound like him. Junmyeon nods in response and the two men walk over to the casket. They both stare down at the framed picture, Junmyeon with grief all over his expression and Jongdae displaying a colder one as he swallows hard. His breath was caught in his throat and Junmyeon had to wiggle his hand a little in Jongdae's hold in order to get the blood flowing again. "I don't know what to say." Jongdae whispers to the other, his eyes never leaving the pretty picture of Baekhyun smiling. 

"You don't have to say anything." Junmyeon says and gently squeezes his hand. 

"It's just a picture. I don't think it's going to make a difference whether I say something or not. It's not even his body. If it were his body," he chokes up briefly at the image of Baekhyun's body lying there instead, "then I would say something." Junmyeon nods in understanding. He wasn't going to scold the other for the way he felt. It wasn't the right time for that anyways. "We should, I should maybe, um," his eyes are darting around as he clears his throat, "outside." He can barely get the word out and Junmyeon just takes the slightly shorter man into his arms before leading him back outside. 

Minseok is standing with Kyungsoo and Luhan, the three watching everyone else from the corner of the room. "I'm sure this wasn't how you imagined coming back to Korea would be like." Kyungsoo mumbles as he stands with his hands in his pockets.

"You're telling me." Luhan says dryly. Minseok just nods along as he blinks away any tears that threatened to spill out. "I thought maybe I would come back for a shoot or something. Not a funeral for one of my members." 

"Crazy, huh?" Kyungsoo and Luhan nod along to Minseok. "Nice to see everyone back together again. Even if it's for something as fucked up as this."

"And even if no one is really talking to each other." Luhan adds while looking around. Chanyeol, Jongdae, and Junmyeon were outside. Sehun and Jongin were talking with Tao, the three of them sporting bloodshot eyes. Yixing was standing back with Kris though the pair were silent, just staring into space with plenty on their minds. Other than that it was pretty quiet with only some chatter among other guests that were there, reminiscing over old memories involving the talented singer. His parents were there but they were mainly keeping to themselves after greeting the guests who showed up. There would be a public memorial service for Baekhyun later so the fans could mourn him as well, probably held later that night or the following day. None of the members really knew as they didn't want to think about it. 

"Do you..." Luhan pauses before continuing on with the thought that was on his mind. "Do you think Baekhyun's actually dead?" His question was announced so carefully, as if he were scared of hurting someone with the weight those words carried. 

"Is this really the right time for this kind of conversation? What if his parents hear you?" Minseok asks lowly. "We need to be mindful of them, please." Luhan nods in understanding before his gaze lands on the casket across the room. It was eerie; just an empty casket underneath the brightest light in the entire building. 

"It is...a little odd." Kyungsoo mumbles and Minseok and Luhan both look at him in shock. "What do you mean?" Luhan whispers as the three huddle closer together.

"I think it's odd that one of our best police forces can't seem to find any evidence on Baekhyun's case, barely put any media attention on it- national and international attention- and then nearly six months of staying absolutely silent on the issue they announce that they're closing the case and that he's "just legally dead so let's just drop the entire issue and kick it under the rug," Kyungsoo uses air quotes as he speaks, "isn't that a little weird to you?" He asks with wide eyes. "Because it's weird to me." Minseok shifts uncomfortably in his spot. He really hated these kinds of conversations. What were they even supposed to do about it? It was pointless getting themselves riled up.

"It is odd." Luhan agrees and nods his head. "I don't think they should have dropped the case. There has to be _something_ for them to use as evidence. I think it's obvious that he didn't run away. He was never that type of person." Kyungsoo's nodding his head quickly with each point Luhan is coming up with. 

"Maybe another police force will pick up the case?" Minseok suggests hopefully. They knew the chances of that were slim to none. This was such high filed case with so much pressure attached to it that no station would pick it up unless they were one hundred percent certain that they could solve it; which at this current rate it seemed like no one could or was willing to solve it. 

"I mean, come on. What if he's alive somewhere? And he needs our help? There must be something; _something_ that he let slip that we missed." Kyungsoo mumbles and furrows his eyebrows in thought. "Something that he must have let slip before he disappeared. We just need to think hard." Minseok frowns as he listens to his words. He and Baekhyun didn't share many intimate conversations, so he wasn't too sure if Baekhyun would let anything serious like that slip to him. Maybe because he was the oldest member and he might ask for advice, but that would be about it. 

"I'll tell you what," Luhan's voice startles Minseok and Kyungsoo out of their deep thoughts, "I'm flying back to China tomorrow night, but if you two find anything out or remember anything odd about Baekhyun in his last moments, don't hesitate to call me or text me. I know SM can be strict when it comes to you guys contacting us but please. This is something that I think we should look into more carefully. Try and talk to the members about it. Especially Chanyeol or Jongdae. I'm sure he had to let something slip to them. Things aren't adding up." He was pulling his coat on, signaling that he was going to be leaving soon. They had been at the service most of the day and the burial would begin soon, but only his parents and immediate family were given permission to stay for that. Minseok remembers how angry the members were at first when hearing it, but then they simply spoke about Baekhyun not actually being dead and since there wasn't a body to bury it wasn't as hurtful. Minseok found it a little weird but whatever helped them cope was fine with him. The three end their conversation when Junmyeon walks back in with Jongdae glued to his side, his eyes landing on them. They knew he was coming back to tell them that they would be taking their leave soon; that the hardest part of their day was over. 

"We'll be in touch." Kyungsoo whispers softly to Luhan as he and Minseok walk back over to Junmyeon, Sehun and Jongin doing the same as well as Yixing. Before they knew it they were piled back into the van and being driven home. Minseok and Kyungsoo still had the conversation weighing heavily on their minds. They knew they would have to talk to the others about this. They didn't want to accept the fact that Baekhyun was gone. And at the very least if he were gone, they wanted to find his body, what happened to him, and give him peace.

It seemed that the hardest part of their day hadn't even begun yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Here's the first chapter. Ngl I kinda got super depressed while writing this. Thankfully this isn't happening in real life or I'd be in ruins orz  
> Hope you enjoyed it :''') The next chapters will definitely be longer so don't worry.


	2. Tell me what you feel

They can still remember the day clearly. The day when Baekhyun disappeared. 

It was a little after New Year's and the group had been taking a short break from touring to enjoy the holiday. Nothing was out of the ordinary, or at least nothing seemed abnormal. Baekhyun had been a little distant; but who wasn't when dealing with heavy amounts of stress? Chanyeol and Baekhyun had been goofing around while waiting for Kyungsoo to finish cooking their dinner. They considered eating out for the night, but Junmyeon insisted that they eat a home cooked meal since they had only been eating out the last month and a half. The dorm room smelled of delicious food and Baekhyun had been ranting about how hungry he was while he and Chanyeol went back and forth with tagging each other in funny cat videos on Instagram. "I'm hungry." Baekhyun whines loudly while watching the fifth video that Chanyeol tagged him in that night.

"I know. You keep saying that." He snorts quietly before tagging him in another video. "Baek, watch this one. It's funny."

"Is it another cat video?"

"It's a bird this time, thank you." He huffs quietly. "A parakeet I think, but I'm not sure." Baekhyun raises an eyebrow before bursting out into loud laughter when the multi colored parrot stomps across the floor. "It's so cute!" He coos as he swiftly sits up from his spot on the floor. "Chanyeol," he looks at the other with a serious expression, "buy me a parakeet for my birthday." 

"For real?" He asks as he stares down at the black haired vocalist. He only nods enthusiastically in response and shows off his killer smile. "Alright. I'll buy you a parakeet for your birthday. What color?"

"Blue! I want a baby blue parakeet." 

"I hope you're ready to be a father, Baek. Having a parakeet is some serious business." He says with wide eyes. Baekhyun giggles loudly and climbs onto the couch with him. "You'll be the godfather. Or the uncle. Or the grandfather. It's up to you." He mumbles while chewing on the inside of his cheek. 

"Godfather. It sounds cooler." He winks playfully. The two stop talking when Kyungsoo calls everyone in for dinner, Baekhyun nearly darting out of the room before Kyungsoo even finished his sentence. 

Of course Chanyeol never bought Baekhyun a blue parakeet for his birthday since he went missing before May even rolled around. He actually went missing later that night in the early hours of the morning before anyone was awake. No one knew for sure what exactly happened and where he went, but that seemed to be the only thing that was known for certain in his case. Baekhyun left the house around two in the morning for unknown reasons and that was about it. Everything else was a mystery. The police had several different ideas as to what happened to him.

The first idea was that he was kidnapped and murdered. They plotted that he was kidnapped only an hour after leaving the dorms and then murdered anywhere from five to twelve hours after being kidnapped. The second idea was that he ran off. They suggested that the life of an idol just became too overbearing for Baekhyun to handle and he needed a way out. That was the least believable idea to EXO and the fans alike. The third idea was that Baekhyun was murdered in a robbery gone wrong only hours after he left the house. They explained that perhaps someone tried to mug him and he fought back, resulting in his death. The last idea was that he was the victim of a serial killer. That one was also unlikely, but they believed it more than him just running away. The reason for his missing body was pretty black and white. They either knew what they were doing and hid his body in a place that no one would find him, cut him into pieces so he wouldn't be identifiable, or he was still alive somewhere. They really hoped it was the last one; the image of Baekhyun's corpse rotting away somewhere or pieces of his body scattered around made Sehun and Jongdae vomit the first time they heard that. 

The car ride back to the dorms had been a quiet one with only the faint sniffles from the members being heard. No one was in a mood to talk. Kyungsoo and Minseok knew that they needed to talk to the others about the conversation they had with Luhan earlier, but they knew now wasn't the time. They might even have to put it off until later the next day. Today was a rough day and they knew that; each man needed some time to really register today's events. It was a big day for everyone. After fifteen minutes the van pulls up to the dorms, everyone getting out and heading to their rooms afterwards. Sehun and Jongin went to their shared room, both immediately going to bed despite it being only one in the afternoon. Jongdae and Junmyeon went to their shared room as well, though the two just went onto their phones and laptops. Chanyeol went straight to his room that he shared with Minseok, Yixing doing the same and going to the room that he shared with Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo and Minseok were the only two standing in the living room.

"When should we talk to them?" Kyungsoo asks in a low voice as he slips his shoes off. 

"Not until tomorrow. I don't think any of them even want to think about Baekhyun right now." Minseok sighs and slips his suit off. "It'll be hard; I imagine Jongdae might agree with us in saying that Baekhyun might not be dead. Junmyeon though..."

"Junmyeon won't be happy. More so because he doesn't want any of us getting our hopes up."

"Or getting his hopes up." Minseok adds. "I think everyone here though can agree that Baekhyun isn't dead. Or at least agree with the notion that we don't think he's dead."

"I think they'll also agree that his case was handled poorly. For several different reasons. You know that if it had been a different idol it would have been treated better. Hell, it would probably already be solved by now." Minseok eyes Kyungsoo carefully.

"What are you getting at?" He asks quietly. Kyungsoo just shares a long look with Minseok before finally looking away. "You know the police force didn't like him because of his recent scandal." He says quietly. "It was obvious to see." Minseok nodded in understanding when it finally clicked.

Six months prior to Baekhyun disappearing he had been involved in a scandal. It was a bad one; one that nearly ended his career. He had been outed as gay. Baekhyun had gone out with a man around his age and the two spent the night together, enjoying each other's company. However, the man Baekhyun was with had secretly taken pictures of him sleeping in his bed and on top of that dispatch had snapped photos of Baekhyun leaving the man's apartment looking quite disheveled. It was extremely evident what he had been doing over there and the news of this blew up like wildfire. He had been put on a temporary leave for nearly a full three months and he wasn't allowed to speak during interviews, he was not allowed to be asked about the scandal, and he was stripped of almost all of his lines when recording songs and performing older songs. Fans of Baekhyun and EXO were upset with how SM handled his scandal and were demanding them to give the poor man a break. He was human after all and he still had needs that only another person could satisfy. 

He technically never came out as gay. Baekhyun ignored the scandal when in public and acted as if it never happened. There was never a coming out speech or an apology issued, he just simply treated as if it never happened. Minseok and Kyungsoo themselves never knew about Baekhyun being gay, but Jongdae, Yixing, Sehun, and Chanyeol certainly had. Baekhyun went to those four the most and he knew that they would never judge him for something like that, Sehun also being gay out of the four. Because of this fact Baekhyun had gone to Sehun the most for things like that. They were shocked to say the least when the scandal broke out and Baekhyun had been reduced down to tears from embarrassment. Junmyeon was upset and even yelled at him for being careless, but none of the men had turned their backs on him simply for being gay. Some of the members were a little weirded out by this at first, but they quickly got over it. 

The Gangnam Police Station, like South Korea's general public, were homophobic. The public had a negative reaction to Baekhyun's scandal and demanded that he step down from his spot in EXO, claiming all sorts of things ranging anywhere from Baekhyun being a useless and untalented member to derogatory terms due to his sexuality. The Gangnam Police Station didn't exactly have a good reputation when it came to dealing with crimes involving the LGBT+ community. It was no surprise when they saw them putting barely any effort into the case and then giving up on it two years later. While they didn't know for sure, Minseok and Kyungsoo couldn't rule out the possibility of Baekhyun's disappearance being involved with a hate crime. These were scary days and nothing was quite unheard of anymore. They just hoped it had nothing to do with his sexuality or scandal. 

"I'd like to give the police station the benefit of the doubt. There was little to no evidence." Minseok mumbles as he sits down on the couch.

"Sure, they didn't have much to go with. You can't tell me you didn't see the faces they made whenever talking about him though. It wasn't a look of sorrow or pity, it was a look of disguist. Towards the end of the case they didn't even bother hiding it anymore. They clearly disliked him." He sighs and sits down next to Minseok. "I wish we could have had an international team or something look into it. At least some place more open minded. I feel like we would have gotten further or something, you know?" Minseok's about to reply when Jongdae walks into the living room, phone in his hand.

"Hey, guys. What are you talking about?" He was no doubt trying to find some kind of normalcy after the day they had. Minseok and Kyungsoo stay silent before Kyungsoo clears his throat. "Just talking about Baekhyun's case." He didn't see the point in lying about it; it wasn't going to do them any good. Especially if they were going to bring it up to them the next day anyways. Jongdae stiffens at this, though his face is unreadable. They weren't sure if he was angry or not.

"What about it?" He tries to play it cool though he fails miserably. 

Minseok and Kyungsoo exchange looks with each other before the older one speaks up. "Honestly, we were talking about how we think there wasn't enough effort put into his case." Jongdae perks up at this, his interest clearly captured. "Wow, you two really don't wait. I agree though." He hums as he lingers in his spot. "I agree full heartedly. They didn't even care. They probably glanced at his file maybe five times throughout the last two years. It's a disgrace that Baekhyun's name is attached to that damn police force." Minseok and Kyungsoo exchange glances before looking back over at Jongdae. They weren't surprised that he was agreeing with them; he had been one of the most outspoken ones about Baekhyun's case throughout the last two years. "I feel like they just don't care. As long as they get to close the case then it doesn't matter. It's complete and utter bullshit." He sighs and plops himself down on the couch in between the two. Kyungsoo and Minseok scoot away to give him some room since he was technically on top of them. "Too bad talking about it doesn't change anything."

"It could though." Kyungsoo says quickly. Now both Minseok and Jongdae are looking at him and the air surrounding them is feeling a little tense and suffocating. 

"How?"

"I don't...maybe we could...I don't know." He sighs and runs a hand through his hair.

"No, go on." The three are startled out of their conversation from the sudden booming and deep voice that joined them. The three turn around to see Chanyeol and Sehun standing in the hallway's entrance. "I want to hear, Kyungsoo." He didn't sound threatening or intimidating, but Kyungsoo couldn't help but shrink in on himself. If there was one person he was afraid to set off about Baekhyun's case it was Chanyeol. "O-Okay," he stutters and fidgets with his fingers anxiously, "I mean, we could try and look for evidence ourselves."

"I don't think that's a bad idea. It's not like the police have been any help." Jongdae agrees with Kyungsoo. 

"What would we even do though? And how would we be able to get enough time off to look for him? SM wouldn't let us, you know that." Minseok furrows his eyebrows while he speaks. "We would need more than the two weeks that we have off. Where would we even start looking?" A silence engulfs the room as the five men sit and ponder their situation and their options. 

"I think we should grab Jongin, Yixing, and Junmyeon before we continue on with this conversation." Chanyeol mumbles and heads off to gather the remaining three members. After only five or so minutes everyone's gathered in the living room.

"So, if I'm getting this right, which I hope I'm not, you guys want to look for evidence on Baekhyun's case?" Junmyeon asks with raised eyebrows. The men nod in unison. He sighs in response and shakes his head. "How? How do you expect to find the time to do this? And it could be dangerous. Do you even know what you would be getting yourselves into?"

"No, but that doesn't matter." Jongdae crosses his arms over his chest as he leans back into the couch. 

"Of course it matters. You guys could get hurt, _killed_ even." He heavily stresses the last part. 

"Baekhyun is out there and he needs us. You would want us to look for you if you were in his shoes." Jongdae shoots back. " _Junmyeon_." Junmyeon sighs and looks around nervously before pinching the bridge of his nose. "Fine," he sends the others a look to quiet them down once they start to cheer, "but if anything remotely dangerous comes up, I'm the one who's taking charge. I don't want any of you getting hurt. Don't try to negotiate." He says quickly when seeing Kyungsoo, Yixing, Sehun, and Jongdae about to speak up in protest. "Because I won't agree to any other condition. Over my dead body will I let anything else happen to any of my members. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to you guys because of this." His voice is stern and his face is one of someone who isn't willing to back down so the men agree silently. They would be running in circles if they tried to argue with him and they knew that. Junmyeon wasn't going to be changing his mind. 

"Okay." Minseok says softly. "I want to help Junmyeon if a situation like that should arise." Junmyeon shoots the other a look, though Minseok ignores it. "I'm the oldest, Junmyeon. It's my duty as the oldest to make sure everyone else is okay. Don't argue with me." Junmyeon looks as if he wants to argue, though he stays silent when realizing that Minseok also wouldn't be backing down. 

"Bigger issue at hand though; how are we going to get the time to look for evidence? And where are we going to start? And how are we going to keep this secret from SM and the public?" Yixing asks from his spot in the room. "We'd have to get away from our manager for long enough to even do that sort of thing."

"We could demand more time off. We could say that Baekhyun's funeral left us scarred and we can't return to work yet. If we make a big enough deal about it then they'll let us. SM doesn't want their name in the news anymore." Kyungsoo says softly. "I mean, Baekhyun's funeral did leave us scarred, fake or not. It wasn't a fun experience even if we know he isn't dead. You and Minseok could probably convince them to give us more time off." He says as he stares up at Junmyeon. "You two have the most potential to get them to listen to you."

"He's right." Jongin adds in. "They won't listen to the rest of us, especially the younger members. But if the leader and the oldest member are the ones addressing these issues then they'll listen."

"This still doesn't help with how we're going to find evidence." Yixing sighs. "We could...we need to somehow get access to Baekhyun's files. I'm sure they can be found somewhere online. I don't think they would give them to us if we just walked in. Do we know if family members can get a hold of a victim's files?" He asks as he looks around the room. He buries his face in his hands when the room stays silent.

"We can get his files some way." Sehun says gently. "We'll figure it out. I'm sure we can find them online. It's not like the police station has been exactly secretive with what they've found. I think the public knows as much as they know. Which is little to nothing."

"I say we start where it happened," Chanyeol announces suddenly, "which was right here; at the dorms. According to everything we know so far, Baekhyun was here the night he vanished. He went out for who knows what and went missing around that time. There might be something we can find nearby. The police barely did any investigating so I wouldn't be surprised if they missed something." 

"And we could keep it secret from the public if we do this in small pairs. I mean think about it. If we all go out at once we'll attract a crowd without a doubt. I think two or three of us should go out looking at a time. And we need to do it at night. Everyone knows that there aren't as many people out in the early mornings." Jongin suggests. "And if there's three of us then we'll be safe outside at night." He says when catching the worried glance of their leader. 

"It's a start." Junmyeon sighs and nods his head in approval. Chanyeol can't help the smile that spreads across his lips at the thought of finding Baekhyun. They were finally going to get answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'm not stating that I believe that Baekhyun and Sehun are gay. They could be straight, they could be bisexual, they could be pansexual, they could be gay, they could even be asexual and we wouldn't know. It's not our business. I'm simply saying they are gay for the story. In this story they are gay, but please don't confuse that with me claiming that I think they are 100% gay. Like I said earlier, that's not my place and I will support them no matter what they are. 
> 
> I also don't think South Korea is filled with homophobic people. I'm just simply stating that the general public is known for being homophobic. I also know nothing about the Gangnam Police Station so everything I said about the way they handle crimes with the LGBT+ community was made up for the purpose of the story. Thank you and I hope you enjoyed reading~ :)


	3. I will wait for you to come home

The rain is coming down hard, the windows covered with raindrops. It had been raining all morning and now in the early hours of the afternoon it had started to develop into a thunderstorm. Baekhyun loved thunderstorms; they gave him time to think. His situation's been a little dire as of late and he needed time to think over how he would be getting himself out of his current situation. He got himself involved in a nasty scandal recently and was certainly feeling the consequences of it. He felt as if almost all of his fans have turned against him as well as Korea's general public. His members thankfully were on his side, though he did get quite the scolding from Junmyeon. It would all blow over within a month or two; all scandals do. It's not like he was involved with drugs or an assault case so in hindsight it couldn't ruin his career too badly. He knew it looked pretty damning on his side, but he could get away with it by lying, but then again he didn't want to play his fans dirty like that, especially when it was so obvious what he had been doing at that man's apartment. And that man- goddammit. Baekhyun actually trusted him despite only knowing him for a few days. When looking back he shouldn't have been surprised that he took pictures of him in his sleep, but Baekhyun always loved to give people the benefit of the doubt and see the best in everyone. It was one of his strengths and his weaknesses. Along with that he just wanted to feel normal for once; enjoy the company of someone and forget that he was an idol for the night. Clearly he had been asking for too much.

A soft and damp towel thrown to the back of Baekhyun's head was enough to pull him out of his thoughts. "What was that for?" He snorts and grabs the towel before pressing it gently to his face. 

"You looked hot." Jongdae responds simply while pressing his own towel to his face. 

"Thanks." He says and sends a playful wink to the other, Jongdae snorting in response. They were in the practice room, having just finished going over one of their dances for an upcoming single. They were both drenched in sweat, much like the other seven members in the room with them. Baekhyun looked upset and while he was often good at hiding his emotions, Jongdae always caught on quickly. "Don't let the scandal get to you too much. You aren't the first idol to be caught in someone's bed. Remember what happened with Big Bang's Seungri all those years ago? That didn't end his career."

"He was also with a woman." 

"But she also claimed that he choked her and then threw a towel at her." He says flatly. "Sure, he got in some trouble but it blew over. Yours will too." 

"YG didn't completely strip him of his lines though. They didn't silence him in interviews and they most certainly didn't ignore it."

"True up until you said they didn't ignore it. The only one who acknowledged that was G-Dragon who apologized on Seungri's behalf. The company itself ignored the whole scandal." He places a hand on Baekhyun's shoulder and gives him a comforting squeeze. "Things will get better. You'll see. You'll be belting out your lines before you know it. Just be patient and let this blow over peacefully."

"Jongdae?" He's about to head back over to the rest of the group when Baekhyun's timid voice stops him. He turns to look at the shorter male, his eyebrows furrowed slightly at the other who was shifting anxiously in his spot. "I, uh..." his eyes dart around the room nervously as if he were afraid someone would overhear him. "You think so? For real?" There's a look behind Baekhyun's eyes that Jongdae hasn't seen before and it's enough to make him instantly worried. Before he can fully question what he means or comfort the other their trainer is calling them back over to continue their dance practice. "Nevermind. Forget it. Thank you." Baekhyun says softly and shoots a beaming smile his way before jogging over to the middle of the room. Jongdae swore that his smile was hiding something.

 

Jongin has a near permanent scowl sketched onto his face as Junmyeon straps a body camera onto his chest. "Stop giving me that look." He mumbles before taking a step back. He silently admires his handiwork as he looks between Jongin, Kyungsoo, and Jongdae. 

"Is this really necessary?" Jongin mumbles as he glances down at the small camera. 

"I'm sorry; am I missing something here? You want to be on the look out for a possible killer or some deranged lunatic who might kidnap you without a body camera? Don't be stupid." He mumbles as Yixing opens his laptop at the dining table. Minseok, Chanyeol, and Sehun are standing around Yixing as they watch him with heavy interest. "By doing this we can see what exactly you're seeing and we can even help you. We might see something that you miss." He says and glances back at Yixing. "He just has to get it set up and then we'll be able to see everything you're filming through his laptop."

"I never knew you were so tech savvy, Yixing." Sehun says in awe. Yixing just smiles bashfully in response, Chanyeol flashing a thumbs up to Junmyeon once everything was up and running on the laptop. "Okay, we can see what you're filming, you guys can venture on out now." Minseok hums and pats Yixing on the back. 

"You guys are just staying near the dorms, right? How far out are you guys going?" Junmyeon asks with worry lacing his tone. 

"We'll be okay, Junmyeon. There's three of us; someone would be crazy to try and do anything. We won't be too far." Kyungsoo gently reassures the other. It's not like he was lying, Junmyeon would definitely find out thanks to their body cameras. The three take turns hugging Junmyeon to ease his worry before heading outside. It was decided the prior day that they would only investigate Baekhyun's case in groups; it was safer that way. Junmyeon had made it clear from the start that no one would be going out alone and if someone thought they discovered something groundbreaking, Junmyeon would be notified immediately as well as the rest of the members. It was the only way to keep everyone absolutely safe. The last thing Junmyeon needed was another member going missing and having to attend another bodiless funeral. He thought he was being reasonable. 

The first group to be going out consisted of Jongdae, Kyungsoo, and Jongin. Minseok originally wanted to go in Jongin's place, though the younger continuously whined until he was given his way. Junmyeon wasn't exactly thrilled that one of the youngest members would be in the first search party. If anything, Junmyeon wanted to keep Sehun and Jongin out of this as much as possible, though he knew everyone was close to Baekhyun and that it wouldn't be fair to keep them from participating. As soon as the trio stepped outside they were met with the harsh dry and cold air, Jongdae shrinking into his coat; it was pretty cold for November. "Where should we look first?" Jongin asks as the three stand idly in the parking lot. Kyungsoo chews on his bottom lip as he looks around; it was dark, no later than ten at night. The streets were for the most part empty with only a few cars driving by here and there after a long day of work. "Well," Kyungsoo can see his breath as he speaks and it somehow manages to make him feel even colder, "I think we should start in the alleyways." Jongin and Jongdae agree before Jongdae hears his phone ringtone from his pocket. He swiftly pulls out his phone, swiping to unlock it and opens the message. He snorts quietly after a moment before turning to look at the other two. 

"Junmyeon says absolutely no alleyways." 

"Is there not a way to mute our cameras?" Jongin mumbles as he looks down and fiddles with the small device that was latched onto his jacket. 

"We should be realistic anyways." Jongdae sighs as he slips his phone back into his pocket. "We need to think like Baekhyun. He would never step anywhere near an alleyway at night; especially when he's alone. You know how paranoid he can be." Kyungsoo nods in agreement and glances back at the alleyway that was located next to their dorm building. He tightens the green scarf around his neck, bringing it closer to his face so his nose and lips can hide from the chilly air behind the warm fabric. 

"Why would he even leave the dorms so late at night anyways? What would be so important for him to leave?" Jongin stuffs his hands into his pockets, the gloves he was wearing not doing its job in keeping his hands warm. Jongdae pulls down on his beanie as he furrows his eyebrows in thought. "Groceries maybe?" He suggests.

"Not a chance. I remember cooking a large meal for everyone that night and that would have meant that the groceries were already stocked." Kyungsoo argues as the three start mindlessly walking down the parking lot and onto the sidewalk. "What would he even need that late at night anyways? He doesn't smoke and he doesn't drink often enough to make late night trips to the liqueur store."

"Maybe he was meeting up with someone." Jongin shrugs. He ignores the weird stares that Kyungsoo and Jongdae send his way. "It's not impossible to think of. He had friends outside of us and we all know that Baekhyun could keep stuff secret if he really wanted to. Maybe he met another guy or maybe he was just meeting with an old friend. That seems more plausible than a late night grocery run." Jongdae stares down at his feet with furrowed eyebrows. It was possible, but he didn't like the idea of it. That would make things way harder; especially if he was meeting up with someone that he had kept a secret from the rest of the group. It would be virtually impossible to track the person down. 

Jongdae pulls out his phone, quickly tapping his fingers against the screen and shooting a message to Junmyeon. "I'll get Junmyeon to ask the others if Baekhyun maybe talked about someone. It's worth a shot." It seemed a little silly to think that the members wouldn't have mentioned about him secretly meeting up with someone, but he still thought it wouldn't hurt to ask. Jongdae feels his hopes wither away when seeing Junmyeon's response. It was just as he thought, so he wasn't sure why he was disappointed in the first place. "Junmyeon says Baekhyun didn't mention anything of the sorts to them."

"This is pointless." Kyungsoo groans and stops suddenly in the middle of the sidewalk. "What are we doing? We have no idea where to even look, and if we did we don't have the appropriate tools to investigate anything. How are we supposed to help Baekhyun by wandering around in the freezing cold after ten at night?" He sounded on the verge of tears and Jongdae could tell that he was getting worked up. It wasn't something known amongst fans or at least not something they've necessarily made public, but Kyungsoo could be quite the perfectionist at times and could easily work himself into a fit if things weren't going to plan. He was the type that wanted answers right away and hated things like surprises or mysteries, so it wasn't that surprising that Kyungsoo was already getting annoyed when they didn't even know where to start looking for the vocalist. On top of that he was stressed easily and this was no doubt stressing him out. Looking for Baekhyun was certainly going to be taxing and exhausting, but Jongdae wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't try. Jongin places a comforting hand on the shorter man's shoulder. 

"We just started, hyung." He says gently. "We can't expect clues to jump out at us like snakes. We have to look-"

"We don't even know where to look!" Kyungsoo was no doubt working himself up. "We don't have access to any of his reports or files, his family doesn't even want anything to do with us, and the goddamn police force won't even look for him! How are we supposed to do anything? We're standing in the middle of a sidewalk two minutes from our dorm looking like complete fucking idiots. We aren't Sherlock Holmes or Nancy Drew. I don't know why I thought this was a good idea, I shouldn't have let Minseok or Luhan talk me into this-"

"Kyungsoo, breathe. You're working yourself up and you know it." Jongdae instructs softly. "Take some deep breaths and you'll be able to think more rationally. Plus you yelling at Jongin isn't going to solve anything." He watches as Kyungsoo quiets down, silently trying to calm himself. He inhales deeply a handful of times, always followed with a long exhale. "Okay, I'm better." He mumbles after a few minutes pass. "Sorry." He mutters into his scarf and hides his hands in his pockets. Jongin rubs his back soothingly before the trio make their way over to a bench. "There's got to be something that we're missing." He sighs as the three sit down. Kyungsoo leans his back against the bench, running a hand through his hair.

"Can't we just...get the files from the police or something? Do you think if we ask nicely they'll give it to us?" Jongdae and Kyungsoo both laugh loudly from Jongin's question. That was cute. "I'm serious! Or maybe if we go to his family's house-"

"No." Jongdae's not laughing anymore, in fact he looks rather annoyed. "We can't go to his family's house. They won't talk to us let alone let us inside."

"Which is why," Jongin looks down and quickly fidgets with his camera, sighing loudly when unable to mute it, "we break in." Jongdae and Kyungsoo instantly start to choke on air as they look at the younger with wide eyes. 

"You're serious? Break in their home? And how do you suggest we do that? We can't just break into the house of his parents." Kyungsoo says with a baffled expression. Jongin honestly was trying to get them all arrested and thrown into a prison. 

"They have stuff in his room! His laptop, his journals, his books, his calendars, his planners; everything! They have everything he had and you can't tell me that that wouldn't help us. The police took his phone but they never fully searched his house. We all know this for fact. He always carried his laptop around with him on tours and he was always on that thing when we were at hotels. He always had a planner in his bag and he had at least one journal with him. He had to have written something down leading up to his disappearance." Jongdae wanted to punch Jongin for coming up with such an idea, but he also wanted to punch himself for somewhat agreeing with him. Of course his phone was blowing up with the several reasons of why Junmyeon disapproved highly of this idea, but Jongin was onto something. Obviously breaking and entering wasn't something they should do nor was it ideal, but if his parents didn't want to help find him, what choice did they have?

"You're way too silent for my liking." Kyungsoo says as he turns to look at Jongdae. "You can't seriously think this is a good idea." He scoffs when seeing the expression on his face. "Jongdae!" 

"I don't think it's a good idea!" He whines defensively. "But we don't have many options right now."

"You can't be serious." Kyungsoo groans as Jongin smiles in triumph. "How do we even get there, huh? You don't think his parents don't have alarms set up throughout their house? Has their son disappearing not made them even slightly paranoid?" He had a point.

"We go at night." Jongin says as he leans against the bench. "We don't break in through the front door obviously. We can go in through a side window. We've been to his house before; it's only one story. His bedroom has a giant window for us to crawl into. We quick grab the stuff we need and bolt out of there. If we're quiet enough then they won't wake up."

"And if they have dogs?" Kyungsoo asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Easy." Kyungsoo couldn't help but feel annoyed with how quick Jongin was answering his questions. "We bring dog treats with us. If they start to get bothered then we can throw them a treat. I'm a dog whisperer, Kyungsoo. Have you forgotten this?" Kyungsoo closes his eyes and lets out a long exhale as he tries to keep himself from throwing himself into another fit. "We'll bring a bag to pack Baekhyun's stuff into and we'll have a separate smaller bag of dog treats. Maybe cat treats too; you can never be too sure."

"Baekhyun's parents think that he ran off because he didn't want to be an idol anymore." Kyungsoo deadpans. Jongin gives him a look that's asking how that's relevant to anything. "If he left on his own, willingly, wouldn't he have brought his laptop and personal belongings with him?" He asks with an arched eyebrow. Jongin purses his lips at this and Kyungsoo almost feels smug with himself since Jongin couldn't answer his question right away.

"That could be. I guess we'll find out when we get there." He hums as he hops off the bench and starts heading back to the dorms. Kyungsoo watches with wide eyes before getting up and following after the other. "You're insane if you think Junmyeon is going to let you go through with this!" He shouts as Jongdae trails silently behind the bickering pair. Well, it was mainly just Kyungsoo nagging while Jongin shrugged off most of his complaints. 

"He doesn't have to go with us. It could be me, you, Jongdae, Chanyeol, maybe Yixing, Minseok...Sehun would be good for breaking in. He's pretty stealthy."

"I can't believe you just said that Sehun would be good at breaking in." Kyungsoo utters with wide eyes. "You've really lost your mind." 

"We'll just have to see what Junmyeon says." Jongin says with a cheeky grin.

 

"Absolutely not."

"Junmyeon, you won't even hear me out." Jongin whines as he follows their leader around the living room. The rest of the members are sitting on the couch, watching the two in amusement. Jongin was fighting a losing battle and it was entertaining to watch to say the least. 

"You're talking about breaking into someone's house! A grieving couple's house nonetheless!" Junmyeon shouts with wide eyes. "Do you even hear what you're suggesting? And what if you get caught, huh? Then what? I'm not bailing you out of prison." He has his arms crossed over his chest as he stares up at Jongin, Jongin staring down at him with a defiant look. Despite the height difference, Junmyeon was not intimidated by Jongin one bit. He had known the other for far too long to let him mess with his nerves. 

"Of course I know what I'm suggesting! And I'm aware of how heavy the weight of what I'm saying is, but this is _important_. Think about it; he was always on his laptop. He recorded all of his plans in his planner and he definitely recorded all of his thoughts in his journal. Junmyeon, this is the only thing in our way from finding Baekhyun." He says softly with wide eyes.

"How can you be so sure?"

"I just know." 

Kyungsoo watches Junmyeon closely as the others observe the exchange going on between the pair. Junmyeon's tapping his foot against the floor nervously, a habit of his when he was about to cave into something. Especially when he knew that the thing he was about to cave into would get him into trouble. "You can't be serious." Kyungsoo mutters under his breath as Junmyeon chews on his bottom lip. "Jongin-"

"Hyung, _please_." 

Junmyeon glances around the room, sighing to himself before shaking his head. "Who thinks this is a good idea? Like," he runs a hand through his hair as he tries to calm his thoughts, "if we were to vote-"

"Junmyeon." Kyungsoo gasps with wide eyes. "Are you serious?"

"-would anyone raise their hand if they wanted to follow through with Jongin's idea?" Was Junmyeon really about to do something as reckless as this? He knew it was his responsibility to keep his members happy and content, but this was a whole new level. Kyungsoo watches in horror as Yixing, Sehun, Jongdae, and Chanyeol raise their hands. Minseok looks around and sighs when seeing everyone with their hand up, rolling his eyes and following suit.

"Minseok!" Kyungsoo whines loudly. 

"As the oldest I need to get involved to make sure that everyone else is safe." Is the only thing he offers in response to Kyungsoo's whines. Junmyeon feels his head throb as he looks around. He supposes he really was going to do this based off the total vote. It seemed that everyone other than him and Kyungsoo were in favor of Jongin's idea.

"We'd have to do it soon. And we definitely need to plan more on it." Chanyeol says from his spot on the couch. "It might not be too hard if we go at the right time. We just need to be smart about this-"

"This entire thing isn't smart, are you kidding me?" Kyungsoo asks incredulously. 

"I can try to hack into Baekhyun's old social media accounts before we go. Maybe that way I can pick up on some clues. We know that his social media accounts weren't looked into by the police. Although if I can't hack into them, I'm sure his laptop has the passwords saved. It would be useful to get a hold of his belongings." Yixing suggests softly. Jongin nods in agreement from his suggestion. "That's really smart, Yixing."

"I never realized how much the police didn't look into his case before now." Sehun mumbles as he picks at his fingernail. "Did they even look into his case at all?"

"No." Kyungsoo mumbles though he was still feeling stubborn. "Which is why we're here now."

"We should talk about this over more tomorrow. I think it would be in everyone's best interest to get a full night of sleep first." Junmyeon quickly dismisses everyone before there's a chance for anyone to argue or fight, let alone plan more. He didn't trust anyone to come up with decent or rational judgments this late at night. This would have to be something saved for the following morning.

\---

_A/N: lmao i can't wait for them to break into baek's parents' house i mean that'll go well lol_

_but i'm excited because that means they'll have to find something, right???_


	4. Broken fragments

All eight members are crammed together in the group van as Minseok silently drives towards Baekhyun's house. No one was speaking and everyone was on edge, already filled with a type of adrenaline. The roles of each person had been established earlier: Yixing would stay back in the van with his laptop so he'd be able to watch the members who went inside since they'd have the small cameras on their chest; he'd also be able to help them navigate by texting them where to go if needed. Minseok, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, and Jongdae would be going into the house. Jongin pitched a fit as the whole thing was his idea, but Junmyeon would only go through with the plan if Jongin sat this one out. Kyungsoo somehow ended up getting involved with going inside. He wasn't thrilled about it considering how opposed to the idea he originally was, but it was either him or Sehun, and Kyungsoo already knew how against Junmyeon was with the two youngest members getting involved. So here he was, sitting in the car with a camera latched to his chest, a bag of dog treats in one hand and a bag of cat treats in the other. He felt ridiculous to say the least, but he supposed it couldn't be helped.

Chanyeol was a bundle of nerves, anxiously glancing around the van every few seconds. He wasn't the sneakiest person alive and he was sure that if Baekhyun's parents caught him that it would more than likely be his fault. Minseok and Jongdae seemed rather calm and that was only making Chanyeol more nervous. He knew this had to be done though; there would definitely be answers left inside; good or bad. The van comes to a halt when Minseok reaches the driveway, sighing quietly as he unbuckled his seatbelt. "Are you guys ready?" He's the first one to speak the entire car ride. Everyone nods their heads and Yixing crawls to the back of the van as he gets his computer out and set up. It was amazing how good Yixing was with computers. No one ever pinpointed him as someone who was a genius with them, but no one was really surprised either. Yixing seemed to have talents in the most random areas. 

"Be careful," Junmyeon says as the four get out of the car, "and if you think you hear someone coming you get out immediately, understand? I really don't want to bail anyone out of prison." 

"Don't worry, Junmyeon. We're pros." Chanyeol jokes, though that only makes Junmyeon twice as nervous. His members were known for many talents, but being sneaky was not one of them. "Guys, _please_." Junmyeon practically begs, but the four only dismiss him (with the exception of Kyungsoo who's shooting him a look of sympathy) and start heading up the side of the yard. The four march up in silence, knowing very well that if any of them were loud that their covers would be blown. Kyungsoo glances back to see Junmyeon driving the van towards the side of the yard, parking it under one of the bigger trees as a means to stay at least somewhat hidden. What were they about to get themselves into? He only shakes his head in vague disappointment before looking back ahead, trailing shortly behind Chanyeol and Jongdae. 

"His window is there." Minseok whispers as they reach the side of the house. The four of them are treading over to Baekhyun's bedroom window, peering anxiously inside. "What can you see?" Kyungsoo asks as Chanyeol peers into the window. Chanyeol was really the only one tall enough to actually look into the window with Jongdae, Minseok, and Kyungsoo huddled around behind him. 

"It's dark." He states dumbly. "So I can't really see much. The lights are off, which is good I guess. His bedroom door is closed as well. It looks like his room hasn't been touched since he last left it." 

"Well, let's try and open it." Minseok mumbles and Chanyeol nods his head. Chanyeol was left in charge of opening the window since he was really the only one tall enough to reach it. He'd also be lifting the other members inside. Despite only being one story, his bedroom window was placed _just_ out of reach to where the members on the shorter side missed it by a few inches. The other three watch Chanyeol in curiosity as he tries to pick the window open, sighing in frustration when he couldn't open it. "Can I just break it open?"

"Absolutely not." Minseok and Kyungsoo say at the same time. "Do you want his parents to hear us?" Minseok asks with a raised eyebrow. 

"I don't know how else to open it." He mumbles before groaning quietly. "Okay, give me a minute." He grumbles under his breath. "Do you have the screwdriver I asked you to bring?" 

"Yeah." Jongdae whispers and pulls the screwdriver out from the small bag he brought with him. Chanyeol takes it after a moment, exhaling silently as he starts to silently pry the window pane open. Kyungsoo clears his throat and looks away nervously; this was really happening now. Chanyeol was actually applying some knowledge to break into Baekhyun's house. _Outstanding._  He looks back over when hearing Chanyeol gasp silently, a grin of triumph on his face as he pulls out the window pane and places it gently on the ground. "Come here so I can lift you up." He whispers as the three inch closer to him. Chanyeol squats slightly and folds his hands together, staring at Kyungsoo expectantly. He sighs nervously as he carefully places his foot on Chanyeol's hands, gasping loudly when he hoists him up. "Crawl in, Kyungsoo." Minseok whispers from his spot in the grass. He nods his head shakily and slips in the best that he can without making any noise. 

Once he's in his heart is pounding through his chest, soft whimpers escaping him as he looks around. Breaking and entering definitely wasn't his forte despite his previous movie roles. Chanyeol was right though; Baekhyun's room was left practically untouched. If the members of the police force did in fact investigate his room, it was hard to tell. His bed was made, posters hung up on the wall, a pair of shoes on the floor by his bed, his hamper had clothes in it still, and his desk and shelves still held his personal items. The room smelled just like him too, which was a crazy experience to say the least. Kyungsoo hasn't been exposed to his scent in the last two years with the exception of occasionally going into Baekhyun's old dorm room and borrowing one of his sweaters or sleeping in his bed and being surrounded by the scent his pillows and sheets gave off. That was different though and mainly a coping mechanism for Kyungsoo, but to be in a room that was engulfed by his scent was a completely different thing. It was nauseating and making him a little lightheaded.

Soon enough Minseok and Jongdae are behind him with Chanyeol climbing through the window. "Where do we start first?" Jongdae whispers as they stealthily make their way through his room. 

"His desk probably." Chanyeol says as he shines a flashlight in the direction. They decided earlier that they would all bring flashlights and navigate in the dark, least they turn on Baekhyun's lamp and wake up his parents from the light in the room that was normally dark. The four quietly make their way to his desk, making sure not to trip over or step on anything on the floor. Their hearts dropped though when shining their flashlights on the desk; his laptop was still there, placed neatly in the middle of the desk, with the charging cord plugged in. Chanyeol closes his eyes and inhales deeply, making sure to keep himself balanced. Just because his laptop was still in his room didn't mean anything. He still could have bought a new one when he ran off. Maybe he was afraid that his laptop could be traced to his location; he was often paranoid like that. Chanyeol shrugs off his doubts and picks up the laptop and charger, carefully sliding it into the bag that Jongdae was holding onto. One down, many more to go. 

Minseok rummages through his desk, pulling out a few journal like books and handing them to Jongdae to put in the bag. Kyungsoo found a planner along with another journal and what he assumed to be a diary. These were definitely tips that could help point them in Baekhyun's direction and they didn't want to miss anything. They knew they wouldn't be able to come back again. "This can't be everything." Jongdae says when Minseok looks through his bookshelves and comes back empty handed. "There must be something else that we're missing."

"What exactly are you expecting us to find?" Kyungsoo asks with an annoyed tone. "His body?"

"Hey; knock it off." Minseok says sternly before Jongdae can snap back at the other for saying such a thing. "This is not the time or place to get into a fight. Save it for back at the dorms." Jongdae keeps his glare on the other before nodding to Minseok and turning away from him. Jongdae makes his way over to his nightstand, pulling open the small drawer and peering inside. He didn't like doing this; he didn't like being nosey in someone else's room. Even if this was the only option they had, he still felt guilty for going through Baekhyun's stuff when he wasn't here to defend himself. He felt dirty almost, though he decided not to focus on those creeping thoughts. There's nothing of importance in his drawer, his hopes withering away as he fumbles through the random pieces of papers and books. It seemed that he just kept random items in there, things that didn't have a true home in his room. 

"I think this is all we're going to get." Chanyeol says as Jongdae swings the bag over his back, closing the drawer and walking back over to the mini group. "We should get going soon. We should be able to find something with what we have now." Jongdae exchanges a look with Minseok and Kyungsoo before the three nod in agreement. It was too dangerous to be lingering around, especially when they had no idea what his parents sleeping schedules were like. And just like that they're climbing out of the room as quietly as possible.

 

"What did you find?" Sehun's the first to interrogate them the moment the four knock on the van window and climb in. 

"His laptop and charger, and a few other things like his planner and journals. Pretty much what Jongin expected us to find the other night." Jongdae sighs as he places the bag on the floor. Junmyeon starts the van with Minseok in the passenger seat and backs out of the driveway, heading in the direction of their dorms once again. 

"You're sure they didn't hear you?" Junmyeon asks as he glances over his shoulder and at the men. 

"If they did then they didn't care enough to come and investigate." Chanyeol mumbles as Yixing pulls out Baekhyun's laptop from Jongdae's bag. "Seems to be a pattern with them." Jongin mumbles under his breath, though the stern look Minseok and Junmyeon send his way shuts him up. 

"Do you think you can figure out the password?" Sehun asks as he watches Yixing sigh quietly. "Won't matter until we get back. The laptop's dead." He closes the laptop and hands it back to Jongdae who slips it back into his bag. "What about the journals and planner? We can look through those things now." Sehun suggests from his seat. Yixing nods his head and Jongdae passes out four journals, one diary, and a planner. Six things in total. Sehun eagerly takes one of the journals, flipping it open and immediately starts to read it. 

"Please be mature about the content you're reading. Keep in mind we aren't in middle school anymore. We should be respectful when reading his things." Junmyeon gently reminds from his spot in the driver's seat. "Of course." Sehun and Jongin add as Jongin peers over Sehun's shoulder to read the journal with him. Chanyeol's staring at the planner on his lap, his nerves getting the best of him and preventing him from opening it. He didn't know what he'd find and a part of him didn't want to know, but he knew he couldn't avoid it forever. "I'll wait 'til we get back," he makes an excuse, "I get motion sickness when reading inside of a car." It was a lie and everyone knew that, in fact he and Baekhyun used to read books together all the time when in the buses touring and on planes together, but no one felt the need to call him out. It was understandable, after all. 

 

Yixing's bolting out of the van as soon as they're in the parking lot of the dorms, Jongin and Sehun rushing out after him. Everyone was curious to get into his laptop and see what exactly the other had been up to. Junmyeon swears under his breath after nagging at the three, telling them to be careful so they don't slip on the ice in the parking lot. Chanyeol, Jongdae, and Kyungsoo, however, are a lot slower when it comes to exiting the van. The three of them were scared shitless if we were to be honest, and didn't want to know what they would find. They couldn't imagine being excited to open his laptop like the others were and they couldn't avoid the creeping feeling that had been nagging at them since going into Baekhyun's room. Of course, they didn't know they were all feeling the same way.

They finally exit and head inside when Junmyeon starts to call for them, the three walking as slow as possible before reaching the inside of their dorms. They couldn't avoid this thing forever. Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, and Jongdae join the remaining members at the dining table where they've set up the laptop and now were trying to guess the password to Baekhyun's laptop. They tried a few of the members' birthdays, including Chanyeol's, Jongdae's, Sehun's, and Kyungsoo's. None worked though and Yixing was starting to grow aggravated. The others suggested some random and special dates as well: the day they first debuted as EXO, the day they won their first award, their one year anniversary, his mother or father's birthday and anniversary, etc. Nothing was coming up though and Yixing was afraid that he would be locked out soon if he tried any further. "We need to really think. What would Baek use for his password?" He mumbles as he rests his chin on his hand. 

"Apparently we didn't know him as well as we thought we did." Jongin huffs as he stares down at his feet. He really thought his password would have been one of those attempts for sure. 

"How many more tries until we get locked out?" Minseok asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Probably one or two more times. We've already typed in a lot, so I don't want to risk it." He responds as his fingers hover aimlessly over the keys on the keyboard. 

"What about," Sehun starts and looks around the room at the others, "Junmyeon hyung's birthday?" Junmyeon's caught off guard to say the least, and his cheeks are becoming red as he shakes his head quickly. "I don't see why it would be that." He says in a flustered state. "He'd have no reason for it to be my birthday. We weren't that close compared to his relationships with the others." He's rubbing his arms anxiously as he chews on his bottom lip. Kyungsoo found it almost adorable with the way he was reacting. 

"It would make sense." Kyungsoo says softly. "Junmyeon is our leader and Baekhyun took him very seriously. He even looked up to you. Think about it, he tried his best to follow your rules and would always act like it was the end of the world whenever you became angry with him. I don't see why it wouldn't-" Yixing's already typing in Junmyeon's birthday before Kyungsoo can even finish his point despite Junmyeon insisting that it wouldn't work. The room goes silent when Baekhyun's laptop plays the jingle as it logs in, Junmyeon stilling before looking over at Kyungsoo and then Yixing. "You typed in my birthday?"

"May 22nd, 1991." Yixing confirms. Junmyeon has to clear his throat when seeing that Baekhyun's wallpaper is a picture of all twelve members together a little after they debuted. It was all becoming too much with his birthday as Baekhyun's password and the sweet picture as his wallpaper; he was due to cry any second and he hated when his members saw that side of him. "Excuse me." He offers weakly before hurrying down the hall and into the bathroom. The atmosphere is heavier and more somber than it was a few minutes ago and no one dared to say anything. Sehun's keeping his gaze on a spot on the wall while Kyungsoo can't peel his eyes off Baekhyun's wallpaper. Yixing himself is growing emotional, though he was never shy about showing that side of himself to his members. Jongdae's staring down the hall, his gaze locked on the now closed bathroom door while Chanyeol and Minseok find it better to stare at their own shoes. Jongin's the first one to speak; the first one to break the silence. 

"Should we get him?" He asks with a soft voice. "Junmyeon, I mean. Should we..." His voice trails off as the bathroom door clicks softly and reopens again, Junmyeon stepping out only a few seconds after. His eyes are noticeably red and puffy with tear stains left on his cheeks. No one says anything about it. 

"Where should we start first?" Chanyeol asks as he peers over Yixing's shoulder. "Twitter? Instagram? Snapchat?"

"You can't use Snapchat on a computer, Yeol." Jongin snorts quietly. "But we can check the other things."

"You can't check Instagram messages on a computer." Junmyeon deadpans.

"What about messaging apps?" Sehun asks from his spot next to Jongin. "He was on them all the time. He was on KakaoTalk and Line a lot." 

"That's a good idea." Minseok mumbles as he glances over at Junmyeon. "Are the passwords saved?" He asks as Yixing pulls up KakaoTalk. "Yup." He hums as he logs into the computer app. The group watches anxiously as Yixing keeps two tabs open for both apps, logging into both of them at the same time. The screen is instantly filled with notifications from chat groups and the sudden notification ringtones startle the group briefly. "Popular guy." Yixing snorts as the others just roll their eyes. On Line, Baekhyun was in a handful of group chats with fans since he liked to interact with them. It was sweet and although he was barely on it he did like to drop in and greet the fans whenever he could. Those chats had long died off as most of the chats he was involved with had. Yixing scrolls through the list of chats, nothing in particular catching his attention.

"What about KakaoTalk?" Jongdae asks as he shifts in his spot. 

"He only has a few group chats over here." He mumbles as he scrolls through. "One with us, one with Chanyeol, one with his parents, one with Sehun and Jongin...none of these have been used since he went missing though. Even his chats with his relatives or high school friends."

"How likely is it that he made another account for his relatives?" Kyungsoo asks softly. Yixing ponders for a moment before simply shrugging his shoulders. "Who knows. It could be, which could be why his parents have been so relaxed about the whole thing. If he ran off and is still keeping in contact with his family members...it would explain why the police force didn't care too much about his case." Chanyeol feels his stomach churn from this information. He hoped that wasn't true, but yet he did at the same time. On one hand, if that were true at least he'd be safe and alive somewhere. On the other hand, however, that would mean that Baekhyun left them without a word and didn't care enough to at least let them know that he was safe and not dead in a ditch somewhere. Baekhyun wouldn't put them through that, right? At least not Junmyeon, anyways. He would have assumed that Baekhyun would have had the decency to warn their own leader beforehand. 

"Are there any names in his friends list that we don't recognize?" Junmyeon asks once he taps on Yixing's shoulder. Yixing clicks over to the list, chewing on his lip as his eyes scan the names. "A few of them...but most of those are family members. We really only met his parents and his older brother." He glances back at Junmyeon before continuing to look. "Some are his best friends from school...but we've met them before." Jongdae runs a hand through his hair as he sighs in frustration. How was it that they had Baekhyun's own laptop on their table, yet they couldn't come up with anything?

"What about that?" Sehun asks as he points to the screen. 

"What about what?" Yixing asks before he narrows in on a chat box. "Oh." A collective gasp comes from the members as Yixing opens up the chat box. Things have just gotten a lot more interesting, huh?

\---

_A/N: I woke up feeling like I got hit by a train haha so now I have a cold and I'm sipping on some hot coco to get me through the day. also I know that KakaoTalk and Line are apps for the phone, but I'm pretty sure that Line & KakaoTalk can be used on computers as well. I don't use them (other than Line sometimes) so I'm not too familiar with those messaging apps, so I'm sorry if there's some mistakes ;;_

_also this is the image I'm talking about as Baekhyun's wallpaper :)_

__


	5. It's you and me

"Junmyeon," a hoarse and exhausted voice calls out his name, "look." Junmyeon turns his attention to the source of the voice, his gaze landing on his black haired member. He smiles fondly when Baekhyun walks up to him, his chest puffed out in a proud manner. "Look what I made." Junmyeon watches the other with a raised eyebrow, his hands sliding down into the pockets of his pants. Junmyeon briefly takes in the disheveled and tired state of Baekhyun before glancing down at the watch on his wrist. It's a quarter past four in the morning. 

"Why are you up so late? We have a variety show tomorrow afternoon." He mumbles, though Baekhyun just dismisses the question. "I've been working on something." He mumbles as he pulls out his phone from his jean pocket. He opens an app before handing the phone to his leader. Puzzled, Junmyeon glances back over at Baekhyun after he takes the phone. 

"You've made a SoundCloud?" 

"Chanyeol helped me." He responds with a simple shrug of his shoulders. "But," he quickly moves to Junmyeon's side and clicks his account profile, "I made a song. I've made a few songs. Just me. I wrote the lyrics, I produced it, I recorded it, and I'm the only vocals in there." He's beaming as he talks, his eyes filled with a light that Junmyeon's seen whenever Baekhyun talks about something he's passionate about. He was extremely proud of himself and Junmyeon's heart felt full just from being able to witness it. 

"Wow, Baekhyun." He was speechless for a moment when Baekhyun started to play one of the songs recorded. There was only a total of three songs, all of them fairly short in length, but he was still proud of himself nonetheless. He wasn't sure what the song was actually named; it was only titled as " _Track A._ " The harmony was beautiful falling nothing short of Baekhyun's style. His voices harmonized well together and at first he thought Baekhyun was singing with someone else, or at least someone singing the back up vocals but it was all him. He could tell that Chanyeol had assisted him in utilizing the studio, but there was no doubt that this was all Baekhyun. "It's beautiful." He says when the song ends after only a minute and a half. 

"You think so?" He asks, fingers nervously fiddling with the phone that Junmyeon handed back to him.

"Of course. Why would I lie about something like that?" Baekhyun's cheeks are turning a light shade of red, a shy and timid smile spreading across his lips. "Have you shown it to anyone else?" 

"Just you." He says a little too quickly, his cheeks now reddening in a form of embarrassment. "I wanted you to hear it first before I had the others listen to it. Your input is the most important one, so, you know..." His voice trails off as he rocks nervously on the heels of his feet. Baekhyun always struggled when talking to Junmyeon; it's just that he admired their leader so much and always sought after his approval for the smallest things. The other members would sometimes tease him about this, but it never bothered him too much. He just admired the other and cared about his opinions. If Junmyeon didn't like his songs he'd be crushed. Sure, he'd be a little bothered if say Kyungsoo or Jongdae didn't like his music (though he doubted Jongdae would ever dislike his music considering they shared a similar style), but he would manage just fine. After all, all the members had different tastes in music (take Chanyeol and Jongin for example). But Junmyeon, he always wanted to impress him or make him proud, even if the style of music wasn't Junmyeon's taste. 

"Well, I think the other members will all love it." He adds gently when taking in the anxious appearance of the shorter male. Baekhyun can't help but shoot a beaming smile his way.

 

"What about that?" Sehun asks as he points to the glowing computer screen. 

"What about what?" Yixing asks before his eyes land on a chat box that stands out against the other conversations. A collective "oh" goes around the room when Yixing clicks on the link to the chat box. Chanyeol's chewing on his bottom lip anxiously as his eyes scan over the contents on the screen, his stomach churning uncomfortably. 

"What the fuck is this?" Jongdae asks as he hunches over to get a better look at the screen. The messages were from an "unknown," probably someone who wished to keep their identity a secret from Baekhyun. The person left him hateful messages, which wasn't something Baekhyun hadn't received before, but he normally didn't get them sent directly to his private chats. Unlike LINE, Baekhyun's KakaoTalk was set up so he could only speak with people whom he knew personally. LINE was for fans and friends, but KakaoTalk was strictly friends and family. "How the fuck were they able to message him?" Jongdae asks again, his eyes wide and moves to push an empty chair next to Yixing, plopping himself down in it afterwards. 

"They must have known him beforehand. Or they were able to find out his account information." Yixing mumbles as he scrolls through the endless messages. They were pretty much one sided, Baekhyun leaving the person on read while they sent him threatening and hateful messages every day. 

"Jesus. Persistent, aren't they?" Sehun mumbles as Yixing continues to scroll through the endless messages. 

"That's how hate messages typically seem to go." Chanyeol mumbles while keeping his unwavering gaze on the computer. "Oh, wait! Yixing, stop." He quickly says and startles Yixing in the process. "Sorry," he mumbles when glancing at the other, "but I saw that Baekhyun responded to one of the messages." At Chanyeol's words everyone creeps closer to the laptop, peering over Yixing curiously. 

 

_Baekhyun  
16:04 01/1/18_

_Leave me alone._

_I've done nothing wrong._

_You're not secretive. I know when you're watching me and I know when you're following me._

_16:06 01/1/18_

_Don't make me start the New Year like this. Please._

_Unknown  
16:07 01/1/18_

_I'm never going to leave you alone._

_Don't act like you've done nothing wrong. Why are you always playing the victim card?_

_Maybe because I'm not trying to be secretive._

_I've got some bad news for you; you're going to be starting the new year a lot worse than this._

 

The members stare at the messages in horror, Junmyeon's face a lot paler than it was only moments ago. "This was only two days before he went missing." He whispers, his foot tapping against the wooden floor due to nerves. "What he's saying..."

"It's very cryptic." Kyungsoo finishes for their leader. "What's the message after say? There's more messages, right?" Yixing nods his head and scrolls down until he's reached the bottom of the page. "Only two more; one from Baekhyun and one from the other person." 

"What do they say?" Sehun asks as he leans over Yixing's shoulder.

 

_Unknown  
3:45 03/1/18_

_I'm here._

_Baekhyun  
3:45 03/1/18_

_I'll be there in five._

_Remember our deal: you said you'd leave me and my friends alone._

 

"I don't like how that sounds." Minseok sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "So now we know that Baekhyun was meeting with someone the night he went missing." He says after a few minutes of silence; mostly everyone taking in the information they just read and coming up with different scenarios of what they could mean. "That's already more information than the police gave us."

"We just need to figure out where they met. It sounds like it wasn't at the dorms or around here since Baekhyun said he'd see them in a few minutes." Jongin states in a matter-of-fact tone. 

"What was the date?" Junmyeon asks Yixing.

"The third of January." He responds and turns in his chair to look at him. 

"You said we found a planner of his, right?" Junmyeon asks, his attention turning onto Minseok, Chanyeol, Jongdae, and Kyungsoo. "Look for the date of the third. Maybe he wrote down where he was going." 

"Is no one going to talk about what Baekhyun said?" Chanyeol asks with wide eyes. "Their deal? He said that the person had to leave him and his friends alone. That could mean us, right? Did any of you notice anything weird before then? Like someone watching you?" 

"Someone was always watching us, Chanyeol." Kyungsoo mumbles as he places a 2018 calendar onto the table. "We're idols. We don't exactly get privacy." 

"You know what I meant." He responds sternly. "He sounded distressed. Someone was _following_ him around and they even made a deal. It's not crazy to think that someone was following and watching _us_ , too." 

"He's not wrong." Junmyeon sighs. "We need to start thinking carefully; anything can help us. If we were being followed or watched then we would have had an odd feeling at least once or twice. One of us. We'll look through the planner and then try and think back to those last few months leading up to Baekhyun disappearing." Everyone nods their heads in agreement before Kyungsoo finally opens the calendar, skipping to the third of January. A long sigh leaves Kyungsoo's lips when seeing the slot for the third empty. "There's nothing there." He says in a defeated tone.

"I mean, if he's going to be doing something shady," Yixing starts and pushes his chair away from the table and laptop, "why would he so blatantly write it down for anyone to see? Today at three in the morning I'm going to meet so and so who's been stalking me the last few months so he can finally leave me and my friends alone on the third of January by a gas station." Yixing says in a mocking tone. "We can't give up because it's not right in front of our eyes."

"What are you suggesting then?" Kyungsoo snaps.

"He might have written it down; just in-between the lines."

"Oh, like maybe through secret messages or something?" Sehun asks excitedly. 

"Maybe." Yixing says, his fingers drumming against his thigh.

"How are we even supposed to find something like that out?" Kyungsoo asks as he stares down at the planner in front of him. "I'm not a detective; I don't know how to do this kind of stuff."

"We'll be able to figure it out." Chanyeol says and pats his back reassuringly. "But before that; have any of us noticed anything odd? Like a pair of eyes watching you when they shouldn't have been? When you should have been alone." The meaning of Chanyeol's words sends a chill down everyone's spine. "Think hard. If what Baekhyun is saying is true then someone was definitely watching us when they weren't supposed to be."

The room is engulfed with silence, each member trying to think back to the moments when Baekhyun was still with him. Was his odd behavior towards the end justified? Had Baekhyun given them any hints as to what he knew? These were the questions that were weighing on everyone's minds right now. And the biggest question being what would they do if someone had been watching them? Chanyeol looks around curiously, his eyebrows furrowed when seeing the lost and desperate expressions on everyone's faces. If someone had been feeling something out of the ordinary, would they voice their concerns? Or would they be too paranoid of looking like a fool in front of everyone? Chanyeol had to admit they could all be a bit judgemental sometimes.

"I, uh," it's Sehun's voice that breaks the silence, "might have felt like someone was watching a few times. But I can't really think back to an exact moment." He adds the last part quickly when seeing Junmyeon's concerned glance land on him. "It was always kind of there, but I thought Baekhyun's recent paranoia was just rubbing off on me." It was true; Baekhyun had been acting extremely paranoid the last few days leading up to his disappearance. He was always checking to make sure the doors and windows were shut and locked, warning members not to take presents or foods from fans, and to always keep their blinds in the rooms shut. They thought nothing of it at the time, but looking back they were all red flags. While they didn't think too much of it at the time, some of the members did voice their concerns. It wasn't like Baekhyun to act that way; he was never shy about being in the spotlight and was usually the member who often forgot to close their blinds at night. His sudden change of behavior was odd, but whenever questioned Baekhyun provided no answers. So they naturally decided to move on and drop the questions.

"There was once when I was changing in the bathroom." He mumbles, his cheeks turning a faint shade of pink. "I just felt...really uncomfortable. Like someone was watching me. It didn't make sense though; there's no windows in the bathroom, the shower curtains are transparent, and there's only one door and it was closed and locked. I don't think it's important; I was just rubbing off on Baekhyun's attitude." Sehun whispers as he rubs his hands together nervously. The members are staring intently at Sehun, their eyes wide in horror as his story starts to settle in their minds. “It’s nothing, really guys.” He whimpers before hiding his red face behind his hands.

“I had the same experience though.” This time it’s Jongin who’s speaking. “Whenever I would step into the bathroom alone; it was just creepy. I wanted to get out of there as soon as I could. It’s why I avoided taking showers alone; Baekhyun was always willing to take a shower with me.”

“Now that you mention it, Baekhyun wouldn't want me taking showers alone either.” Sehun mumbles as he looks around the room. It’s quiet again and everyone’s trying to figure out what this could possibly mean. “There were a few other times where I felt the same way.”

“What do you mean?” Kyungsoo asks in a soft and gentle voice. If he was freaked out as well, then he certainly knew how to hide it.

“Whenever I would go out jogging early in the morning; at a time where I knew people would be asleep. I was never swarmed with paparazzi, but sometimes I still felt someone following me. It was never a fan, either. Usually you can hear fans giggling from behind, but this time...it was always so silent. It was eerie; I felt like I was in a horror movie and that the serial killer would be lurking behind me; not too far but not too close. Always lost within the shadows whenever I would turn around at just the right time.”

“Jongin? What about you?” Junmyeon asks as he tries to keep the panic from rising in his voice.

“I never had that experience. I only felt watched when I was in the bathroom, never any time beside that.” Junmyeon’s eyes widen slightly before returning to their normal size. Something about what Jongin said struck a chord within him.

“How often did you feel like that, Sehun?” This time it’s Minseok who’s asking the questions.

“You want me to be honest?” He asks, his voice far too soft for everyone’s liking. Once Minseok and the others nod Sehun decides to continue. “Whenever I was alone. If I had someone with me it was...easier to ignore the feeling.”

“Is that why you suddenly invited me to go jogging with you?” Chanyeol asks in a faint whisper. Sehun just nods his head in response.

“Has anyone else felt the way Sehun’s felt?” Junmyeon asks as he looks around the room. Everyone exchanges worried glances with each other before a few people raise their hands. Jongdae and Yixing in particular. “That’s it? No one else?” He watches as the rest of the members shake their heads slowly. “Okay, what about the two of you then? How often?”

“Nothing as bad as Sehun.” Yixing starts slowly. “It started with small things. I would sometimes feel someone’s eyes on me though I could never pinpoint someone behind the gaze, the bathroom incidents same as Sehun, leaving the dorms I would feel eyes on me…” He sighs softly and shakes his head. “Then it grew into larger things. My items started to go missing. At first I thought I was misplacing them; my headphones, keys, wallet, passport. Things like that. Then they started to show up in places where I never even left them. I found my passport on top of the laundry machine, my keys in the refrigerator, my headphones in the hallway.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Kyungsoo asks with a shocked expression. “That’s serious!”

“I thought it was just someone playing a prank on me. I never thought it was a big deal until we started talking about it just now.” He admits and rubs his arm gently.

“I never had any of that,” Jongdae says softly, “just the same things as Jongin.”

"What if they're still watching us?" Jongin asks with wide eyes. "How do we know that they still aren't watching us?" That immediately sends a panic throughout the room, everyone looking around in their spot nervously. Junmyeon tries to calm the group down before moving to the middle of the room. “It seems like most of the incidents happened in the bathroom. Why don’t we search the bathroom for any wires or cameras?”

The surrounding atmosphere is growing thick as Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, and Junmyeon make their way towards the bathroom. No one was speaking, their heads all wrapped up in what was going on. What if they found a camera? What would they do then? No one was sure of what they would find and how they would react. No one wanted to think about it, yet it was all they could think about. Junmyeon’s the one to push the bathroom door open, peering inside cautiously before stepping in. There weren't many places for a camera to hide, so they’d have to get creative if in fact someone did hide one in the room. “We should check everything. Anything you can think of that could somehow fit a camera inside.” He instructs as he looks along the walls, his eyes landing on the air vent. "Maybe we can look into the air vent." He suggests and glances over at Chanyeol. "Do you think you can reach it or should I grab a stool or something to stand on?"

"That's too tall even for me." He snorts quietly. "You're better off getting a chair." Junmyeon's out of the room before Chanyeol can even finish, shrugging his shoulders simply before moving further into the bathroom. "If I were an insane lunatic, where would I hide my camera?" He asks aloud, his eyes scanning the surrounding objects. 

"You are an insane lunatic." Kyungsoo mumbles as he stares heavily at the bathroom mirror in front of him. "Fuck you." Chanyeol huffs though Kyungsoo just waves him off. "I'm the insane lunatic, yet you're the one staring at your own reflection like it's going to jump out at you." He ignores the taller, however, and only continues to stare at the mirror. His eyebrows are furrowed as he lifts his hand from his side, slowly and carefully pressing his index finger to the mirror. 

"What are you doing?" Chanyeol asks as he shuffles over to the shorter. "You look like ET."

"My finger touches the reflection." He says quietly as he tilts his head slightly to make sure he was seeing things correctly. He sighs softly and moves his finger from the glass, shaking his head. He knocks on the surface of the mirror carefully with his knuckles, pulling away from how sharp and loud the sound was. "Why does it sound like that?" Chanyeol asks as he looks between Kyungsoo and the mirror. Instead of replying, however, Kyungsoo only continues to look around the bathroom. 

"Why are the lights so bright in here?" Kyungsoo asks with a raised eyebrow. "Have they always been this bright?"

"They have." Junmyeon says as he walks in with a stool, placing it by the air vent. "Why?" 

"Something isn't right." He says and leans over the sink so he can get closer to the mirror. Once close enough, Kyungsoo presses his face to the mirror and cups his hands around his eyes as a way to block out the light surrounding him. He drowns out Chanyeol and Junmyeon's continuous string of questions as he peers through the glass, his eyes widening when he thinks he sees a small object through the glass. He immediately backs away, nearly tripping over Chanyeol and Junmyeon in the process. "Turn off the lights." He demands before the other two can question him. Junmyeon flips the light switch, the bathroom swallowed in darkness. 

"What's the point of this?" Chanyeol asks as he stands close to Junmyeon. Kyungsoo ignores him once again, pulling his phone from his front pocket. He taps the flashlight option, shining it directly into the mirror. "Look." Is all he says and points to a spot in the mirror. Chanyeol and Junmyeon crowd around him, looking directly into the mirror. 

"Is that a..?" Chanyeol starts though Junmyeon's panicked voice cuts him off. "Is that a fucking camera?" He asks and scrambles back over to the light switch, flipping it back on. Kyungsoo just stares at Chanyeol and Junmyeon, his phone still pointing at the mirror. "Jongin!" Junmyeon yells out. "Bring me something hard!" Jongin's at the entrance within minutes, a hardcover book in his hands. 

"You're going to break the mirror?" Chanyeol asks with wide eyes when Junmyeon takes the book from Jongin's hands. 

"That's what you're doing? I would have gotten you something else." Jongin says before taking the book back. "I'll be right back. Hold on." And scurries out of the room before Junmyeon can say anything further. "I don't have time for this. The two of you: out." Junmyeon says before more or less shoving Chanyeol and Kyungsoo out of the bathroom. He turns around and picks up the stool from the floor, slamming the bottom of the stool into the mirror. It takes him two tries, two tries of him slamming the stool into the mirror with all he's got before the glass shatters and falls into the sink and onto the bathroom counter. The noise has attracted the rest of the members who are now peering in from the hallway curiously. 

"Hyung, you'll cut yourself-" Junmyeon tunes out Sehun's voice as he places the stool back onto the floor and approaches the mirror, brushing shards of glass out of the way. Kyungsoo was right. There, where the glass once was, was a small hole in the wall that held a camera. The camera itself was small and could fit in the palm of his hand. He feels himself freeze in his spot as he stares at the camera head on, his heart racing in his chest as his mind tries to grasp at everything that was being thrown at him. He lifts his hand and reaches forward, ignoring the small shards of glass that are scratching at his skin. His hand wraps around the camera, picking it up before violently tugging it out of the wall, a wire coming with it. He swallows a thick lump as he stares at the torn wire hanging from the now lifeless camera before turning to look at his members. "I think this might be why everyone felt uneasy in the bathroom." 

 

Yixing's wrapping Junmyeon's hand with bandages at the dining room table while the rest of the members stare at the camera that's sitting on the table. "What are we supposed to do now?" Jongin asks from his spot next to Sehun. "How do we know that there isn't more?"

"We could search the rest of the dorms." Minseok offers as he looks around the room they're in. "Air vents, mirrors, stuffed animals, flashdrives, shampoo bottles-"

"How would a camera be in a shampoo bottle or in a flashdrive?" Jongdae asks with wide eyes. "You sound crazy."

"I'm sorry, we just found a camera in our bathroom mirror that's been there for who knows how long, and I'm the crazy one? Websites can make shampoo and flashdrive shaped cameras. We're living in 2020; if someone wants to catch your every movement on camera then they can." He snaps in an annoyed tone. "Now if you'll let me finished so we all know what to look for, that would be great." He hisses before smoothing out his shirt. "WiFi adaptors, smoke detectors, hell even a tissue box could hide a camera."

"I think we should call Luhan." Kyungsoo whispers with wide eyes. Things were starting to add up and if they really wanted to look into this then they should call and ask for Luhan's help, just like he had instructed back at Baekhyun's funeral. "I know that Kris has a busy schedule and I'm not sure what Tao is up to, but Luhan said to call him if things start to get complicated."

"You really think he wants to fly back to Korea to help us search for cameras?" Chanyeol asks softly with a raised eyebrow.

"It's worth a try." Junmyeon sighs and pulls out his phone before dialing Luhan's number.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'm sorry this update took so long. It was extremely hard to come back to it after Jonghyun. 
> 
> Anyhow, if you think I'm pulling this out of my ass, just know that people do make shampoo and flashdrive shaped cameras. It's a thing lol scary world we're living in.


	6. Memories of you

It's been a long two weeks for Baekhyun since EXO-K and EXO-M decided to group up and tour together for the month. Going from six people living in the dorms to twelve people living together, Baekhyun was sure he was going to start losing his mind. He wasn't sure how Junmyeon was able to cope with all of this. Tao running around the dorms screaming at the top of his lungs as Kris tries to shut him up, Minseok and Luhan chatting loudly before dragging Sehun into the conversation, and Chanyeol and Jongdae scream-laughing at every single joke they said was beginning to grow tiring. Baekhyun was originally against the idea of the large group being split into sub-groups, but when realizing that this was something he'd have to deal with every day, Baekhyun suddenly understood why SM made the decision that they did.

It was for their own sanity. 

Baekhyun buries his face in his pillows with his headphones in, music from his phone blasting loudly as he tries to tune out the screaming of his group members. It's not that Baekhyun didn't enjoy their company; he really did, but he just needed some time to himself. It was his days off that he enjoyed the most as he could enjoy the comfort his bed gave him, but he was finding it extremely hard to drift off to sleep when they had an additional seven people in the house. 

Thankfully, with the help of soothing music that's meant for people to drift off to, Baekhyun can feel his eyelids feeling heavier and his breathing becoming softer. A whimper leaves him as he snuggles up to his soft pillow, feeling as comfortable as can while wrapped in his silky soft bedsheets. However, light leaking into his room pulls him from dream land and back into reality. His eyebrows furrow as he buries his face back into his pillows, almost forgetting the new presence in his room until he feels his right headphone pulled out of his ear. "What?" He mumbles, figuring it was Sehun or Chanyeol in his room, poking and prodding for attention. 

"This is how you welcome us?" The voice is definitely not one that belongs to Sehun or Chanyeol though and Baekhyun opens his eyes to stare at the figure hovering over him. It was Luhan. He's starting to become nervous at the thought of his elder thinking he ditched him and their company on purpose. He didn't have much of a relationship with Luhan in general, so he was unsure if he was actually offended or not. 

"Of course not." He's sitting up within seconds, so fast that he nearly headbutts the bright blonde in the process. 

"Then what are you doing right now?" Luhan has a stern expression on his face and Baekhyun's starting to fret even more as he quickly yanks out his remaining headphone. His mind is swirling around for answers as he just stares at the other who's now sitting on his bed. They came two weeks ago; why is he getting on his case now? It's not like he didn't welcome them the first day they arrived. He was the one who opened the door for them! "I'm just playing around." Luhan says before Baekhyun can freak himself out even more. "But Jongdae kept whining about how he hadn't seen you and he was growing concerned." Baekhyun gags at this, the blonde laughing in response. "So I told him I'd come check on you. You see, he's concerned, but not to the point where he'd get off the couch and look for you himself."

"Typical." The brunet snorts under his breath. "He just saw me two hours ago." He grumbles as he slowly moves the sheets off him, a whine leaving him when the cold air hits his body. "It's our day off. Why isn't everyone napping? This is their prime time to do so." Luhan's the one snorting now, getting off Baekhyun's bed while the brunet bends over to look for his slippers that are more than likely under his bed. 

"Because no one wants to sleep the day away on their only day off." Luhan hums while looking around the other's room. He's never been in here before, at least not alone that is. It was roomy, pictures of Baekhyun's family and friends littering the small shelves in his room that he shared with Jongin. He had his clothes dumped into the corner of his room, whether they were clean or not Luhan wasn't sure. "I was thinking," he starts, his gaze landing on Baekhyun who struggles to put on his slippers in his sleepy state, "maybe we could do something tomorrow. I'm kind of tired of being cooped up with EXO-M all the time, and I'm sure you're tired of being cooped up with EXO-K all the time. I thought maybe it would be refreshing for us to go out and do something together." His cheeks are growing a faint red when Baekhyun glances over at him with a confused expression. "And out of all the members, we don't really know each other too well. It could give us a chance to bond. I think it's important that everyone is friendly with each other. Isn't it weird for two members of the same band to not know each other?" Luhan has a bad habit of speaking quickly when he grows nervous. Baekhyun's always noticed this about him. His Korean was excellent, though he had the habit of losing himself mid-sentence whenever he'd grow nervous. Luhan was one of the most liked members in the band; he wasn't sure why he was always so anxious.

"Sounds good to me." Baekhyun hums as he gets up from his bed. "I know some good food places around here that we can stop at. We can stop at some shops too. There's some good clothing stores around here that I think you'd like." Luhan smiles brightly at this, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his pants. 

"Sounds like a plan to me then." He hums before the two walk out of his room, Jongdae's shouts and Chanyeol's laughter being heard from down the halls.

 

Luhan didn't picture spending his free time in a plane for a last minute trip to South Korea, but since Baekhyun disappeared he shouldn't find himself too surprised with the situations he's found himself in. Junmyeon called him a few hours ago, rambling something about cameras found in the dorms and something about Baekhyun and messages. He knew it was urgent though, and he knows that Junmyeon must have called him at the request of Kyungsoo or Minseok based off their last conversation they shared in person. A shaky sigh leaves his lips as he glances out the window of the plane. It's been awhile since he's seen all the members together, and he knew that it would feel surreal and a little awkward. Of course, the situation they were in was already surreal, so maybe the members wouldn't mind too much about his sudden presence in the midst of all this chaos, right?

He checks the time on his phone. 17:08. He should arrive at the Incheon International Airport within the next hour. Things must be getting serious over there if Junmyeon were the one to call him up, not Kyungsoo or Minseok. He chews on his bottom lip nervously, fidgeting with his fingers as he glances around the mostly empty plane. What was he getting himself into? He pushes a hand through his dark brown hair, a nice contrast from his tanned skin. He leans back against his seat, his eyes fluttering shut as he lets memories flood his mind as he allows himself to drift back to the times where he was in EXO.

Where had it all gone wrong? Maybe if he stayed with the group Baekhyun wouldn't have gone missing. That's a bit of a stretch, but he can't but feel that way. Maybe he would have been able to pick up on something if he stayed. It's immature of him to think that he could have stopped something, right? A deep sigh leaves him as he gets comfortable in his seat.  _Think back, Luhan. Maybe there was something that you missed._

Baekhyun was good at hiding his emotions. It was something to be admired and something to be concerned over. There weren't many instances where the two could spend time together, so he wasn't blessed with many memories to think through.  _Think harder, Luhan._

 

"You've been acting weird recently, Baek." Luhan places a cup of steaming tea in front of the brown haired male. "You keep spacing out every time I see you. Keep it up and you'll have Junmyeon on your case." He sits down across from the other, a small smile pulling at Baekhyun's lips. 

"Your hair looks nice."

"What?" Luhan asks with raised eyebrows. 

"The brown looks nicer on you. The blonde shades you were using were too bright." Luhan snorts quietly from Baekhyun's backhanded compliment. "Thanks." He mumbles under his breath. "What's up? Why are you acting so melodramatic?" Baekhyun only huffs quietly in response to his question. "I'm not being melodramatic." He says as he glances down at his mug of tea.

"You're staring sadly at your tea. That's extremely melodramatic." Luhan deadpans while leaning back against the leather chair. The two were sitting in the kitchen, only the light from over the stove illuminating the rest of the room. "Why are you up at this ungodly hour, Baekhyun? Aren't you the one who's always preaching about sleep?"

"I suppose you're right." He sighs quietly. "It's hard to sleep these days."

"You aren't getting enough sleep?" Luhan asks with concern filling his voice. It was a stupid question; the boys never got the recommended amount of sleep due to schedules, but they were at least getting _some_ sleep. Two to three hours, which might not seem like much, but for idols in a successful band that were constantly on the go, it was a decent amount. 

"I haven't gotten any sleep in the last two days. Maybe an hour total." There's a distant look to Baekhyun's eyes and Luhan knows that he's walking on thin ice when Baekhyun gets like this. It's rare to see him like this in the first place and Luhan knows that with any false move, Baekhyun will pull his guarded walls right back up around him. 

"Why?"

"I'm having nightmares, and," he glances around cautiously, as if he's afraid of someone overhearing them, "sometimes I feel like someone's watching me." Luhan pulls a face at this. "How could that be?" He asks as he leans forward. 

"If you're going to lecture me on how I'm an idol and how someone's always watching me then save it." Baekhyun states abruptly. "I already got that lecture from my mom earlier today." Luhan snorts at this and shakes his head. 

"I'm not. Calm down." He takes in the other's appearance, making a mental note of how exhausted and disheveled he looks. "Could it be that a fan found the address to our dorms? It's not that unlikely to consider, right?" Baekhyun seems to consider this for a moment before simply shrugging his shoulders in response, his now lukewarm tea sitting untouched in front of him. Luhan presses his tongue against his cheek, thinking over his words carefully. Junmyeon's told Minseok recently about Baekhyun acting paranoid around the dorms, who in turn told Luhan. Apparently Baekhyun's been acting a little strange, though won't outright talk about it, so Junmyeon's been trying to keep him from overthinking things. "Look," Junmyeon would kill him if he heard Luhan playing into Baekhyun's thoughts, "if you're concerned that someone's watching you while you sleep, why don't you set up a camera or something? Like, are you afraid of someone physically watching you in your room while you sleep? Or is it something else?"

"Something else." He says without missing a beat. "I don't think that there's someone creeping into my room at night and watching me sleep. After all, Jongin doesn't feel weird in our room. I think if there were someone sneaking in our room that he would notice too, right?" Luhan only nods along to Baekhyun's words as he keeps his gaze on him. "Maybe it's something like a camera that's set up in my room. Luhan, what do you think I should do?" 

"You think there might be a camera hidden away in your room?" He asks with a raised eyebrow. He wasn't sure what to make of this conversation. He didn't want to brush off what Baekhyun was saying as he was sure his mother was doing that enough in his free time. "Well, I think the only thing you can do then is search your room for it."

"If any of the other members catch me tearing apart my room they'll think that I've lost it."

"Then do it when they aren't around." Baekhyun looks a little caught off guard by his response, maybe because he wasn't expecting him to go along with him or because he hadn't thought of that himself, Luhan wasn't sure. "Maybe one night when they're all on schedules and you get the day off, do it then." 

"Thank you, Luhan." Baekhyun says after a brief pause. "I was starting to feel a little unwell with keeping everything to myself. It feels nice to get it off my chest, even if it turns out that I'm just being overly paranoid." Baekhyun smiles warmly at the other, the smile being a genuine one. "Any time, Baekhyun. I should probably be heading back to bed, and you should too. We have a busy day tomorrow." The feet of the chair scrap against the wooden floor loudly as Luhan goes to push himself up, the noise startling him just before the light over the stove starts to flicker. "Ah," Luhan's mildly creeped out, though he wasn't hard to startle, "we should change the light on that damn thing. And maybe we should buy some pads for the chairs. Junmyeon will have an aneurysm if he sees the floor all scratched up." 

Baekhyun's silent though, and his expression is a lot more grave than it was earlier. "Ah, Baekhyun, are you feeling alright?" He's taken aback by Baekhyun's expression and he's unsure as to why the hairs on the back of his neck are standing straight up. "The kitchen has gotten a lot darker, hasn't it?" He mumbles as he looks around the room. There was almost an ominous blue light illuminating the room. 

"Luhan." The man turns to look at the other, feeling uncomfortable as he fiddles in his chair anxiously. What was going on and why was he feeling so uncomfortable? "You need to stop."

"Stop what? I don't understand what you're saying, Baek." However, Baekhyun only glances up at him in return, a frown on his face. He looked sad- sad and concerned and Luhan couldn't help but match the emotions that Baekhyun was expressing. 

"It's dangerous. You're putting yourself into a dangerous situation, Luhan. What are you doing? What is your game plan, huh?" Luhan just stares at the other with furrowed eyebrows. "You should be at home, not flying to Korea. You're only going to get others hurt if you keep at this." Baekhyun only sighs loudly as he runs a hand through his hair. Two and two finally click in Luhan's mind as he shakes his head quickly. 

"We're going to find you, Baek. That's what we're doing." Was he dreaming? There was no way that this conversation was actually happening. He must have fallen asleep on the plane. Baekhyun just keeps his gaze on the other, a look of pity on his face. Luhan really hated it when people looked at him like that. "What do you want me to say? What do you expect us to do? We're going to find you and then we're going to bring you back home."

"Alright." He says after a moment of silence, his fingers drumming along the wooden table. "But are you ready for the things you'll find? Are you ready for the answers that you'll get?" The light over the stove is flickering once again and Luhan feels himself flinch slightly. He jolts in his seat when all the lights in the kitchen begin to flicker, his eyes never leaving Baekhyun. Was he the one doing this? "What does that mean, Baekhyun? What do you mean?" 

"Don't go snooping in places where you don't belong." 

 

Luhan jolts awake in his seat, a flight attendant pulling her hand away from his startled reaction. "I'm sorry, I just came to wake you since we landed." Luhan's just staring at her with wide eyes before looking around the plane quickly. So he did fall asleep on the plane then. He leans forward in his seat, massaging his forehead lightly as he lets out a deep and long sigh. Maybe he shouldn't have hyped himself up to think about Baekhyun before drifting off to sleep. "Sir," Luhan forces himself up when hearing the timid voice of the flight attendant, "we have to board another flight soon."

"Thank you." He says curtly before grabbing his carry on and hurrying off the plane. He can see Junmyeon and Minseok wave him down from where he was standing, a timid and exhausted looking Kyungsoo and Jongdae standing beside them. The men were all dressed incognito, making sure to wear hoodies, sunglasses, beanies, the sorts to keep them hidden from the public. Luhan feels a heavy presence weighing on him as he approaches the group, his eyes heavy with jet-lag as they exchange quiet greetings. 

 

"I'm sorry that we had you fly all the way down just to help us look for cameras." Junmyeon sighs as the small group get into the company van, Minseok taking the driver's seat, Jongdae in the passenger's. "It's fine." Luhan mummers as he gets into the back with Junmyeon and Kyungsoo. "I'm pretty good at finding hidden cameras." 

"Does your management know that you're here?" Minseok asks as he backs out of the parking lot. 

"They think I'm visiting a family friend who's ill." Luhan says as he places his bag onto the floor of the company van. "So it's best that they don't find out about this or I'll find myself in some deep water. I'm sure it'll be the same for you if SM finds out." The men stay quiet as Minseok drives down the busy road and towards the direction of their dorms. "How bad is it?"

"How bad is what?" Kyungsoo asks quietly, his eyes glued to the window he was seated next to. 

"How many cameras did you find?"

"Only the one so far." Junmyeon responds. "In the bathroom mirror; right across from the shower." Luhan shoots Junmyeon a look before shuddering in his seat. "That's fucked up." 

_"Maybe it's something like a camera that's set up in my room. Luhan, what do you think I should do?"_

Luhan feels himself starting to grow hot, shedding off his jacket quickly in his seat. "And what's even more fucked up," Jongdae starts, his voice wavering slightly, "is that whoever was fucking around with Baekhyun has been fucking around with Yixing and Sehun too." Luhan perks up at this, his gaze landing on Jongdae. "They've been moving Yixing's shit around, following Sehun while he goes out for morning runs. They've been in the dorms, Luhan! Well, obviously if they're planting cameras around." Luhan feels his vision start to go out of focus as he registers everything Jongdae was saying. 

_"You're only going to get others hurt if you keep at this."_

"They've been in the dorms?" Was it getting hot in here? Luhan dabs at his forehead gently, wiping off the sweat that was forming. Didn't Baekhyun warn him about someone watching him while he slept? And while he didn't think that anyone had gotten into his room, what if they had? Was it that far off to assume such a thing? The heavy feeling he had when getting off the plane was only making itself more obvious and more glaring. Luhan straightens up in his seat, trying to shake the feeling off. 

"They've had to been in the dorms in order to get a camera in there." Jongdae answers. Luhan's heart is beating rapidly in his chest, his breathing starting to quicken as he looks around the van nervously. "You found a camera." Luhan states dumbly while Junmyeon and Kyungsoo turn their attention onto the dark haired man. "Luhan, are you feeling okay?" Kyungsoo asks as concern fills his voice. "Minseok, can you turn on the AC for him? He looks like he's burning up." 

"But it's so cold out." Minseok mumbles under his breath while flipping the AC on. 

"I'm fine." Luhan brushes off Kyungsoo's concerned gaze. "Jet-lag. That's all it is. I'll be feeling better once we arrive at the dorms." He says as he forces himself to calm down. "And then we'll start to look around for the other cameras; if there are any other ones. For all we know it was only the one." 

"I doubt that." Jongdae sighs, leaning his head against the window. "It wouldn't make sense if there were only one camera." 

"We should let him rest until we arrive to the dorms." Junmyeon says while Luhan rests his head against the van window. "He looks worn out. We still have twenty minutes before we arrive home." Luhan ends up drowning out the rest of what the men are saying as he flutters his eyes shut. The indescribable feeling was only growing heavier and Luhan had a hunch that this was just the beginning. He just hoped that they weren't too late. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'm so sorry that it took so long for this update. i'm taking 5 courses in the bachelors program along with having a job, so it's been kinda hectic. my classes end in a month though and in the summer (the first half of summer, anyway) i'll only have 3 classes, 2 of which are online, so i should be able to update more often!!! thank you for being so patient with me. 


	7. I fall apart

"I can't believe I agreed to this." Luhan complains as he sits in the middle of Baekhyun's room, watching the brown haired boy run around. The other members were out on their own schedules and both Luhan and Baekhyun managed to get the day off together. Luhan had promised the other that he would help search his room for any cameras in order to appease the paranoid and anxious man who was currently pacing around. 

"You said that if there were a camera it would be easier to find one if there were two sets of eyes looking." He responds before crouching down in front of his bookshelf. "You are my second set of eyes." His fingers run over the different books on his shelf, most of them collecting dust since he didn't normally get the time to read anymore. "Besides," he wipes the dust from his fingers onto the side of his pants, "you're the only one who hasn't judged me so far. How do you think it would go over if I asked Kyungsoo or Jongdae to help me look? They'd laugh me out of the dorms." 

"You're probably right." He laughs quietly before pushing himself off the ground. "Well, if we were a crazy lunatic, where do you think we'd stash a camera?" He asks with a raised eyebrow. 

"Probably somewhere with easy access." Baekhyun responds, rocking on his heels with pursed lips as he looks around the room carefully. "I believe- well," He sighs loudly and stomps his foot in frustration. "They make this look easier in television dramas." 

"Of course they do. Who would watch a drama that's hard to solve? No one has that much patience." He snorts before throwing himself on Baekhyun's bed. "Why is your bed comfier than mine? Unfair treatment." Baekhyun only rolls his eyes in response. "Maybe they'd hide it in a teddy bear or something." Luhan offers after a moment of silence. "Or in a tissue box or whatever. I think I've seen that done in a movie before."

"My teddy bear?" Baekhyun asks and strolls over to his dresser that's placed against the wall across from his bed. "This would be a good spot, but I don't want to tear up my teddy bear." He whimpers and looks over the small blue and fluffy bear in his hands. "Chanyeol got this for me, you know. It was a birthday present." 

"We can ask Junmyeon or Kyungsoo to stitch it back up. We just won't let Chanyeol see it." He replies before sitting up in his spot. "But better to be safe than sorry, right?" Baekhyun scrunches his nose at this before nodding his head begrudgingly. "Get me a pair of scissors?" He briefly looks over his shoulder to look in the other's direction. Luhan scoots himself off the bed and is out the door within seconds, returning a minute later with a pair of kitchen scissors in his hand. "Thanks." Baekhyun mumbles and takes them from his hand. "Chanyeol's going to kill me." He whines before starting to carefully cut across the bear's neck. "Oh no!" He gasps when seeing the stuffing start to spill over, Luhan snorting from behind him.

"What did you think was going to happen? You're decapitating it." Baekhyun nudges Luhan in the stomach with narrowed eyes before putting his attention back to the issue at hand. "Do I just pull the stuffing out once I get it's head off?" He asks, fidgeting anxiously when the head was close to coming off. "Because I feel really guilty for doing this. Chanyeol's going to think I hated his present or something." He suddenly gasps loudly and turns to look at Luhan with wide eyes. "What if he thinks I don't want to be his friend anymore?" 

"I don't think it'll be that deep." He says and gestures Baekhyun back to the teddy bear. "Would you rather not look in the teddy bear and just let someone keep filming you?" There's a silence between the two and Luhan nearly laughs in disbelief. "Really? You better hope that some killer doesn't lure you out with a teddy bear or something. You're too easy." Baekhyun pouts at this, huffing quietly before pulling the head off that was only connected by a loose thread at that point. Luhan rests his chin on Baekhyun's shoulder while watching him pull out the stuffing from the bear, tossing it onto the floor afterwards. "Lu," he calls out softly, Luhan only humming in response, "can you close and lock the door please? I don't want Chanyeol walking in on this."

"Chanyeol isn't even here. And wouldn't it be suspicious enough if everyone were to come back and we're both locked away in your room?" Baekhyun only shoots him a look, a look that warns him to stop talking and to just do what he asked. "Fine, fine. But don't blame me when the others start getting the wrong ideas." He has his hands raised in the air before turning on his feet and walking over to the bedroom door. He closes and locks it, walking back over to the shorter brown haired man. "Anything?" He asks when looking at the pile of stuffing by Baekhyun's feet.

"I'm still pulling out stuffing." He replies casually. 

"Still? How can such a small thing have so much stuffing inside?"

"How else is it going to be so nice to snuggle?" Baekhyun asks with a raised eyebrow. Luhan just rolls his eyes at this. "I think that's the last of it." He mumbles when dropping a little amount of stuffing onto the floor. "Well?" Luhan asks with a raised eyebrow, leaning over his shoulder to peer inside the bear. "Do you see a camera or any wires?"

There's a beat of silence between the two before he whines loudly and throws the bear onto the floor. "I de-stuffed him for nothing! There's nothing inside! Oh, Chanyeol is going to be so upset with me." 

"It's fine; we can just have Junmyeon or Kyungsoo stitch him back up." Luhan mumbles as he bends over, scooping the pile of stuffing into his hands. "Hold on." He carefully puts the stuffing back into the stuffed bear once double checking for any wires or cameras. While he wouldn't say anything to the other, he did feel strange in Baekhyun and Jongin's shared room. There was just something about it that made him feel watched, and while Luhan didn't get paranoid over such small things, he wouldn't tell the other as it would only freak the vocalist out even more. 

"Maybe there isn't anyone watching me. Maybe I'm actually just crazy." He sighs and tosses the stuffed animal back onto his bed, passing by his framed pictures while walking back to his bed. 

"You aren't crazy." Luhan watches the boy flop onto his bed, rolling over and burying his face in his pillows. "You're an idol; it's normal for you to feel paranoid and think that someone's watching you. And actively looking for cameras in your room isn't that crazy either. Some people are insane, I wouldn't be surprised if we had found one." He shrugs and walks over to Baekhyun's bed, sitting on the edge of it. "Don't be too hard on yourself and ignore everyone else if they're making you think you're crazy. Better safe than sorry, right?" 

"Mhm." Baekhyun muffles from his pillow. Luhan laughs quietly and comfortingly pats his knee. "Everything will be okay, Baek. Every storm shall pass, right?"

 

"This is bad." Yixing sighs while looking at the small coffee table in the living area. "Really bad." The group of nine men had been searching the dorms for the last ten hours for cameras that could have been stashed away throughout the house and had just regrouped after the long and exhausting search. So far they had found a total of six cameras, none of which were working when found. The cameras were all piled onto the wooden coffee table, Junmyeon anxiously pacing around the living room while Sehun sat still on the couch, pressed to Luhan's side. 

"There must be footage we can play, right?" Jongdae asks and turns his attention onto Yixing. "That's how cameras work, right? They film and then you can play back the footage."

"Generally, yes. But since they aren't active anymore I'm a little concerned." He responds while closely examining one of the small cameras in his hand. "I'll still try to see if I can get any footage from it or anything, but I'm doubtful." Jongdae nods his head to this, chewing on the nail of his index finger in a nervous manner. 

"Where did we find the most cameras?" Luhan asks tiredly, his eyes half shut while he leans onto Sehun. He was tired and stressed, everything becoming far more real and too close to his comfort. While he wasn't living with them anymore, he couldn't help but wonder if the same person had been watching him too. He never felt like someone had been watching him, and he liked to think that he was rather observant, but you can never be too sure these days. 

"We found one in the bathroom mirror, two in the living area with one in the television and the other wired into the ceiling fan, and the rest were in Sehun and Jongin's shared room."

"Three were in their room? Where?" 

"One in the main mirror of the bedroom and the other two were wired into their picture frames hanging on the wall."

"They weren't in the picture frames." Sehun corrects Yixing. "They were in the wall behind our picture frames, but they could still film through the pictures."

"They had to cut small holes into the pictures for the cameras to see you. They were in the pictures." Yixing says and picks up two of the smaller cameras, both a little smaller than Yixing's pinky nail. Luhan shifts uncomfortably as he looks at the two cameras in the palm of Yixing's hand. Something about this felt oddly... _familiar._  

"What are we supposed to do about this? Do we go to the police?" Chanyeol asks while watching Yixing place the two small cameras back onto the tables. "If we can't see any footage what will we be able to do with this? Would the police even take this seriously? They might just think that we planted them ourselves."

"Why would they think that?" Kyungsoo asks with a raised eyebrow. He shakes his head afterwards, pursing his lips and leaning back onto the love seat. "Yixing and I will see if we can find anything on the cameras. Junmyeon and Minseok can help us as well. The rest of you should take a break. Maybe try and sleep, alright?" Kyungsoo knew it would be nearly impossible for the men to sleep in this state, especially since they weren't certain if they found all the cameras or not. The men groan and complain under their breath quietly, though slowly they all get up and head out of the room, though Luhan awkwardly lingers by the couch. Yixing smiles warmly when seeing the concern on his face, walking over to the other and patting him on the back comfortingly. "You can nap in my room for now. Kyungsoo and I won't mind, we'll be looking through the cameras anyway." 

Luhan nods his head slowly, offering a smile in gratitude before heading down the hall. Yixing closes his eyes and lets out a low sigh before turning around to face the small group behind him. "I don't think that there's any way for us to connect this to the laptop." He watches the face of the men drop before he waves his hand dismissively. "No need to fret though. I have a friend back in China who's a tech expert, she does this stuff all the time. People hire her for private investigations, to hack into computers and hard drives, take apart cameras, you name it and she's done it. We could do this one of three ways. She flies over to take a look, I fly there with someone to give them to her, or we mail them. I don't think we should mail them though- someone might take them from the mail." Yixing waits patiently as he looks around at Kyungsoo, Junmyeon, and Minseok. "I was thinking I could fly back to China with Luhan should we take that route." 

Junmyeon is clearly at unease at the idea of any of the members leaving the country, let alone for a situation like this. He had two options: he could leave with Yixing and leave the rest of the members alone, or stay with the members and let Yixing fly to China without him. Either way he was leaving someone unsupervised and that was the last thing he ever wanted. "She's normally busy, so I don't know if she'd be able to fly out and when she'd have the time." He mumbles and glances over in the direction of the cameras. "What do you guys think?" 

"Could she pull any footage from the cameras?" Minseok asks with a low voice. "I think it's worth a shot if she can pull something from it. The cameras aren't active, so I don't know if the police would care. That seems to be the typical pattern for them here." He mumbles the last part under his breath, though the other men simply brush it off. 

"I don't know if this is the best idea. Traveling to China? Right now? That could be dangerous, Yixing."

"Junmyeon, we go to China all the time." He offers him a slight smile to ease his spirits. "That doesn't matter," Junmyeon defends his feelings quickly, "because those were for different situations. What if this lunatic finds out you're traveling with their cameras to find footage? You don't think they'd try to stop you?" He asks with wide eyes.

"Then why don't you come with me? Won't that make you feel better if you're by my side then?" 

"Then I have to leave the members here unattended and I don't like that either." 

"You can't be watching them twenty-four-seven." The exchanges were becoming more quick paced and each side growing more and more defensive as Minseok and Kyungsoo watched silently from the sidelines. 

"Oh, can't I?" Junmyeon asks with wide eyes, his arms crossed over his chest.

"You can't! It's impossible. They're grown men and you don't need to be watching them as if you're their mother or babysitter. They will be okay if you come with me and I will most certainly be okay if you don't." Yixing's eyes are just as wide as Junmyeon's as he tries to explain his point of view and he's trying to keep himself from losing his temper. He knows how arguing with Junmyeon goes. He always comes out winner as the leader normally gets the final say in matters. It was a frustrating thing and with the fact that Junmyeon would probably come out of this victorious was already pissing him off. 

"Clearly I have to!" Junmyeon shouts angrily. "The last time I didn't one of our members went missing!" The room grows quiet at this, despite the only two people originally talking were Yixing and Junmyeon. "Do you not realize why we're in this situation right now? Someone was left alone- sorry, I wasn't _babysitting_ someone and then they vanished. So if you want to talk me out of watching the members that have been watched by the same lunatic, you're insane."

It's silent and Yixing's glaring daggers into Junmyeon by the time Kyungsoo speaks up cautiously. "Why don't...how about Luhan, Junmyeon, and Yixing go to China to find Yixing's friend and Minseok and I will watch over the members here. Junmyeon, you have every right to worry." He's trying to ease the tension between the two as he glances between the pair. "We're all frustrated right now, but we shouldn't be taking it out on each other. Yixing, you're the one who's always encouraging civil conversations between members." He sounds confident and calm, but Kyungsoo's currently tugging at his fingers and trying to swallow his nerves down. "We'll FaceTime every night and you can keep us updated on your progress."

"And while we're here," Minseok claps his hands together loudly while glancing around the messy room, "we'll start cleaning this huge mess up. I think the members will calm down once things aren't so chaotic looking here. We'll also try finding some of Baekhyun's old friends from the chat logs we found and see if they have any information on him." 

Junmyeon's facial expression is unreadable, though a long sigh leaves him afterwards. "When should we head to China then?"

 

When Junmyeon asked Yixing when they should head to China, he didn't think he'd immediately drag Luhan out of bed, pack three bags hastily, and flag down the next available flight. Yet, much like Luhan earlier, here they were now on a flight to China. "This friend of yours better know what she's doing or my jet lag will actually murder her." Luhan mumbles into Yixing's shoulder, his eyebrows furrowed and bottom lip jutting out in a pout. 

"Of course she knows what she's doing." Yixing says and pats his head gently. "If there's anyone who could figure it out it's her. You just have to trust me." He huffs quietly and settles further into his seat. "We'll be there soon enough. We might not even have to stay that long. Maybe a few days." Luhan nods his head before burying his head further into his shoulder, his eyes fluttering shut to make up for the nap that was interrupted to leave the country. Silence settles over the trio, Yixing glancing over at the leader who's staring out the window. He was still angry about earlier, so he decided it would be best to give him space until they land and _have_ to communicate. 

Yixing glances back down at the sleeping brunet on his shoulder, a faint smile pulling at his lips. What Baekhyun wouldn't have given to see everyone back together again. Granted, he probably wouldn't have wanted them to come back together because he went missing, but still. He gently lifts his hand, hesitating briefly before running his fingers through the soft hair. He missed Luhan. They were still in contact after he left the group, but things grew a little strained over the years, though once Baekhyun disappeared Luhan made it a point to get back in contact with Yixing to see if there was anything he could do to help him or the others. He smiles fondly to himself as he gazes at the sleeping man before someone clearing their throat pulls him from his thoughts.

"What's her name?" Yixing looks over at Junmyeon, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Your friend, what's her name? How did you even meet someone like this?"

"Ah, her name is Yeon. I met her when I was still in school and we just kind of clicked. She's a good friend of mine and I know that she'll take this seriously. Look, Junmyeon," Yixing pats his thigh comfortingly when seeing the anxious look on the other's face, "this is a good thing. She can help us figure out how much these things filmed, maybe who was behind it, and if it saw anything when Baekhyun vanished." 

"I know, but-"

"Minseok and Kyungsoo are watching the members at the dorms. They said they would call if anything happens." Yixing interrupts gently. "You just need to trust them and to trust me." Junmyeon nods his head slowly, taking his gaze off Yixing and back on the window next to him. Another awkward silence falls over the pair and it's making Yixing feel uncomfortable. "I, uh, didn't mean what I said earlier." He supposed now would be the appropriate time to apologize for the earlier argument. "I shouldn't have called you a babysitter or a nagging mother."

"You didn't say nagging, but thanks." He mumbles. Yixing frowns slightly when he doesn't look at him. Junmyeon always makes eye contact during conversations- arguments or not. He was growing nervous and he wasn't sure why. He's rubbing at his palms anxiously as he thinks of something to say. "I-"

"I worry so much about everyone and I know that it's annoying for you and the others at times. I probably do appear as a nagging mother." His lips are two thin lines pursed together and his eyes have a distant look to them. "But when Baekhyun disappeared it was like all of my worst nightmares came to life. Can you please just try to understand how I feel about all of this?" He turns in his seat to face Yixing. "I'm your leader; I'm EXO's leader. It's one of my responsibilities to make sure that everyone is safe and out of harm's way. You put me in a hard spot back there when you said I could stay with the members or go with you. It just feels that every time I'm not there, that's when something bad happens." His voice cracks and he tries to play it off, though his left eyebrow twitches and his breath hitches when he makes eye contact with Yixing. "Baekhyun-"

"Baekhyun's situation won't happen again, Junmyeon." He carefully moves Luhan off his shoulder before turning to face Junmyeon as well. He takes the leader's hands into his own, giving them a comforting squeeze as he gazes at him. "Minseok said that everyone was going to sleep in the same room together until we come back. The doors and windows are locked, no one's leaving the dorms unless necessary and when they do," he notices the worried expression on Junmyeon, "they will all leave together. No one is going to be alone for that to happen again." 

"You don't understand, Yixing." There's something behind Junmyeon's eyes that Yixing can't exactly pinpoint. Junmyeon removes his hands from Yixing's hold before turning himself back towards the window. "What happened to Baekhyun was my fault." 

\---

_A/N: happy belated  birthday to our lovely angel jonghyun_

 

_does anyone watch This Is Us because I’m emotional lmao_


	8. Living the sweet life, but it still tastes bitter

Yixing's eyebrows furrow in confusion as he stares at the man whose back was now facing him. Did he just say that Baekhyun's disappearance was his fault? He blinks several times as the information settles in his mind, shaking his head quickly. "Junmyeon, no- listen, why are you saying things like that? What are you talking about, huh? Baekhyun wasn't your fault." 

"Yes, it was. It _is_. It still is my fault." He's at a loss for words as he stares at the back of his leader. "Junmyeon, don't tell me that you think that- this doesn't make any sense. Why would you think something like this? Everyone was asleep when it happened."

"I wasn't asleep." Yixing pulls a face at this, not understanding what it had to do with anything. Junmyeon gives him an expectant look before Yixing opens his mouth to speak. "You were shooting a commercial." He says slowly, his eyes widening in realization afterwards. "Junmyeon, that's not fair. What happened wasn't your- how would you have known? Baekhyun said it was okay-"

"I don't want to talk about it anymore, Yixing." He curtly interrupts, putting his attention back onto the window. Yixing keeps his lips pressed together from Junmyeon suddenly snapping, nodding his head briefly and turning back into his own seat. He closes his eyes as he leans his head back against his seat, sighing softly as he feels Luhan's head making its way back onto his shoulder. They would land soon enough.

 

Junmyeon wasn't exactly pleased that he was sitting in the living room of a woman he did not know the name of, let alone in a country where he barely spoke the language. He hasn't even seen the woman yet, only hearing her voice when Yixing knocked on the door to let them in. He plays with his fingers anxiously, staring down at the tiled floor beneath his feet. They were in a stilted wooden house along the Tuojiang River in Fenghuang, and while he did find the area breathtakingly beautiful he still wasn't sure what to make of this entire situation. "Ease up," Yixing whispers to the tense male beside him, "she's nice. You act like you're being held hostage." The three men were crammed together on a small couch that was really meant for two, but Junmyeon seemed to be the only one bothered by it. "She's just making us some tea. Take some deep breaths. Go look out the window or something; enjoy the scenery." Junmyeon didn't feel like getting up, but the look Yixing was giving him convinced him otherwise. He mumbles something incoherent under his breath before pushing himself up and strolling over to the medium sized windows on the wall. He can hear Luhan mumble _finally_ from the couch as he leans back against the rough fabric, stretching his legs out as Yixing makes more room between the two. 

"Breathe." Junmyeon whispers to himself as he forces himself to look out the window. Yixing was right, it was beautiful, though it did little to soothe his anxiety. There was a low fog that hung over the town, giving it a comforting and homely vibe. There were wooden boats that slowly made their way down the river, seating up to ten people as the guides spoke about the surrounding houses and the history of the town's culture. It was a calm day today, as described by both Luhan and Yixing earlier as there weren't many tourists in the area. He could also see fishermen in their boats as well, keeping an eye on the calm water surrounding them for any fish they may spot. All the stilted houses along the river had lights lying along the the edges of the tiled roofs, giving everything a beautiful yellow hue once the sun sets. The town was also surrounded by mountains and forests and Junmyeon's never had such an urge to go hiking before. He finds himself staring at the red lanterns dangling from the houses before hearing the door slide open from behind, jumping slightly in his spot before tearing his gaze off the window and turning around. 

"Yeon," Yixing says as he stands up, bowing slightly as the short woman walks over to him, a tray of tea in her hands, "thank you for seeing me on such short notice." 

"It's no problem. Anything for a friend." Her voice is light and airy, making Junmyeon feel a little more at ease. She didn't look like what he was expecting either. He wasn't sure why he was expecting her to appear in a mysterious manner with a dark trench coat or something, which if anything just seemed cliche of him, but he couldn't help that. The way Yixing had described her earlier made her sound mysterious, and it didn't help that Fenghuang also felt a little mysterious to him. She places the tray down on the coffee table, a warm smile on her lips as she tucks a lock of black hair behind her right ear. It's quiet for a moment, an awkward silence falling upon the room before Yixing grows flustered. "Oh, right. These are my two friends, Luhan and Junmyeon." Junmyeon awkwardly smiles from his spot, keeping a safe distance from her. She didn't seem threatening- she was tiny and short, a skin tone similar to Jongin with black hair cut just above her shoulders, and a delicate smile that made her seem approachable, but at the same time Junmyeon didn't know her and he knew that she could do some shady stuff. It was enough to keep him cautious. 

"It's nice to meet you." She slips her hands into the back pockets of her jeans when the three men timidly look around, with Junmyeon staring at his shoes and Luhan playing with his hands. "I'd be correct to assume that you guys didn't just come here for a vacation, right? Yixing, what's the reason you're here?" Yixing grabs his bag from the couch, unzipping it and placing the cameras onto the coffee table. She stares down at them with a raised eyebrow, glancing at Yixing afterwards. "Why did you bring me cameras?" 

"We found them in our dorms. Two in the living room, one in the bathroom, and three in a shared room. I wanted to know if you would be able to retrieve any footage from it."

"Were they working when you found them?"

"They weren't activated anymore." Yixing responds. "But we still wanted to know if you'd be able to pull anything from it. Maybe it could help us find out what happened to Baekhyun or at least who put them there." Yeon hesitates for a bit, leaning over to pick up one of the small cameras. She inspects the camera in the palm of her hand closely, a soft hum leaving her. "It's doable." She finally says. "I don't know if you'd be able to find out the person who planted them though. They could have hired someone to do it for them and then activated them remotely." 

Luhan and Junmyeon exchange looks while Yixing keeps his eyes on Yeon. "But we'll see."

"Do you know how long it'll take?" Junmyeon didn't mean to interrupt or to come across as rude, but he didn't want to leave the rest of the members alone for too long. He really only wanted to be away from them for maybe a day or two, but nothing longer. Yeon's a little caught off guard by the question, but answers regardless. "It could take a couple of days. I can't really say for sure until I start working on it. There's multiple factors involved. You could stay at my place if you want in the meantime." 

Junmyeon looks like he's about to mental breakdown so Yixing decides it's best to intervene. "Thanks, but there's a hotel nearby we can stay at." Yeon nods in response, carefully picking up the other five cameras. "Alright. Come back tomorrow in the morning and I'll show you what I have so far. I'll start running through the memory cards tonight and see what else I can find in the cameras." 

"Alright, thanks-"

"I'll see you tomorrow then." She says before taking the cameras and heading out of the room quickly. Luhan pulls a face at this, his nose scrunching in distaste as Junmyeon lingers behind them. "Be nice. She needs to start working on it as soon as possible if we want answers in a decent time frame. She's also a very focused person. She means no harm." Yixing explains quietly as the men head out through the front door. "We'll come back tomorrow in the morning. She'll probably shoot me a text when it's a good time to stop by."

"You think she'll be up doing that all night?" Junmyeon asks as the trio make their way down the steps and onto the sidewalk. 

"Maybe. It wouldn't surprise me. She throws herself in head first when taking on projects. And she knows that we need answers quick. She knows about Baekhyun and our situation."

"I think the world knows about Baekhyun." Luhan snorts under his breath. 

"Yeah, well I hope she just figures it out soon. I don't want to be away from the others for too long. I don't have a good feeling about this." That's partially why he decided to attend with Yixing. He didn't have a good feeling about leaving him alone either. The men walk down wide pathways with dozens of red lanterns hanging above them, making it nearly impossible to see the sky above them. On a normal day, on a normal trip Junmyeon would make it his personal mission to stop at all the food vendors and look through all the shops, but all he could think about was getting back to the hotel room and calling their members. He felt uneasy and maybe that's just his anxiety speaking, but something's really not feeling right to him. He glances around at the people rushing down the alleyways, trying to head home for dinner or to head off to work. He watches the elderly men playing Xiangqi off to the side on small wooden tables. It was a lovely atmosphere and he had no doubt that it was even more beautiful at night, but he really just wanted to get to the hotel. Which reminds him-

"Do we even have a hotel room booked?" Junmyeon asks with his hands crammed into his jean pockets. 

"Nope." Yixing responds as if he didn't just confirm that they had no place to stay. "Oh, relax." He calmly waves his hand around when noticing the expression on Junmyeon's face. "Hotels here are pretty cheap."

"I'm not worried about how expensive they are. I'm worried about if all of the hotels are booked." He pinches the bridge of his nose as he mentally talks himself out of a panic attack. _Everything will be okay, Junmyeon._  He thinks he might have to repeat that line to himself the entire time they're in Fenghuang. This whole thing better be worth it. He just hopes that everyone else at home is having an easier time then them. 

 

A quiet sigh leaves Chanyeol's lips as he stares down at the small blue teddy bear in his hands. His fingers trace over the stitches sewn into its neck thanks to the courtesy of Kyungsoo. It felt just like yesterday that Chanyeol gave this to Baekhyun for his birthday. He's sitting in Jongin and Sehun's empty shared room, more specifically on Sehun's bed. This used to be Baekhyun's bed and this used to be Baekhyun's shared room with Jongin. The picture frames on the wall; they were old pictures that Baekhyun once hung up himself, Jongin placing the ones higher up for him since he couldn't reach without a stool. The picture that the two cameras were found in was a photograph of Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Jongdae in their trainee days. It was shot just after one of their practices and Chanyeol to this day still has no idea why or how it could be Baekhyun's favorite when they all looked exhausted and drenched in sweat. He never questioned it though.

He looks back down at the teddy bear, the memory still fresh in his mind. He raises the teddy bear up to his face, his face solemn as he looks over the bear quietly. He doesn't let himself ponder over the memories he shared with Baekhyun so long ago; it only depresses him even more. Baekhyun was his best friend and he misses him more than he could ever express. He just wants him back and with each day that passes it feels more and more like a foolish wish. A never ending nightmare that he wishes he could just wake up from; a reality where he finds himself thinking how it should have been him instead before falling asleep at night. If Baekhyun were kidnapped and Chanyeol had been put in his place instead, he could have had a better chance at fighting the guy off. He could have caught the cameras sooner. He could have spotted an invisible threat in the corner of the room quicker. There were so many things that he could have done before Baekhyun. 

He still talks about Baekhyun in present tense. Whenever it slips in an interview or during a variety show- hell, _even to his own parents_ , Chanyeol never fails to notice the pitying glances sent his way. Or the amount of people who are suddenly clearing their throats. Why would he talk about Baekhyun in past tense if he isn't dead? Why would he talk about him in past tense period? To Chanyeol, that's the ultimate way of declaring that he's given up on his friend and, pardon his language, but he doesn't give a flying fuck who it bothers. Once they're in his shoes then they can complain to him about it. Until then, they have no right to judge. 

There's an aching in his chest that he's never quite been able to push away or fill since Baekhyun went missing and if Chanyeol doesn't find a way to get rid of this feeling he might actually go insane. Scratch that, Chanyeol knows how to make it go away. By finding Baekhyun. Only Baekhyun himself can get this empty pit inside of Chanyeol's heart to disappear, but that seems slim to none and his heart is so heavy that it's suffocating. His heart hurts; it physically hurts and that's something he's never experienced before. And each time Baekhyun's brought up; each time his laugh echoes in his head he feels himself fall apart a little more each time. He feels like he can't breathe and his vision is growing blurry, a sign that Chanyeol's about to crumble into himself soon. His breath hitches as he closes his eyes, the soft fur of the teddy bear gently caressing his skin as he presses it to his face. The silhouette of his body is shaking and a hot liquid is forming behind his eyes, threatening to escape at any moment. He lies down on Sehun's bed, his knees curling into his chest, arms wrapped around the small bear tightly. He's crying, no, _sobbing_ into Sehun's pillows as he lets everything freely flow out. He has everything, anything someone could ask for. Money, fame, friends, family, and yet this life still tastes so bitter to him. He doesn't want it anymore. He didn't want it anymore the moment Baekhyun left. That's all he wants: _Baekhyun._  

He wasn't aware that he was yelling until there's banging on the door. It's locked though and Chanyeol just doesn't have the energy to get up and unlock it. He doesn't care though. He just needs this moment to himself. So he continues to sob until he starts to choke, choke so hard that he feels lightheaded for a moment only to repeat the cycle. He can't stop crying; the tears just keep coming despite him thinking that he cried them all away long ago. He's not sure when the door was forced open or who forced it open, he's only aware that there's someone else other than him in the room when a pair of arms are engulfing him into a tight hug, a voice soothingly whispering into his ear to calm him down. Then there's another pair of hands on his cheeks, thumbs clumsily wiping away his tears as the other rocks him in their hold. It might be Kyungsoo who's holding him, but it also sounds like Jongdae. Minseok could be the one wiping his tears away, but he also thinks the hands feel like Jongin's, so he isn't sure. The tears are blocking his vision and he can't really see, he just knows that there's people in his room, Sehun and Jongin's room, trying to calm him down. Chanyeol doesn't think he'll ever calm down after this.

_Things won't be going back to normal, will they?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: i know it's a shorter chapter; it's setting everything up for the next few chapters :) didn't want to stuff too much into this one chapter. Hope you liked it!
> 
> ***also, i don't know much about fenghuang but i did do some research over the town, the history, culture, etc. so i'm sorry if it's not too accurate but i really tried for it to be TT TT  if ya'll know more about fenghuang that i missed, feel free to let me know ^^


	9. The dead talk

_A/N: there's some dark content in this chapter, so read with caution. Nothing that should be triggering, but I still thought I'd give a heads up. Happy reading! :) note: maybe you shouldn't read this alone at night? ehehe this **[song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VagES3pxttQ)** sets the mood though; would recommend listening to it while reading the chapter. if you want music for the whole chapter, you could listen to **[this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwToTZc9qOk)** in the background. might make the rest of the chapter creepier than it needs to be, but i saw the creepier the better lol_

\---

All morning, Sehun has had this sinking feeling in his chest. In fact, he's not even sure where he is when he came to, his wrists bound together tightly behind him, just out of sight to where he can't see them. He's sitting on a wooden chair, one that's creaking under his weight as he strains the muscles in his neck as he tries to look around the room. It's dark and humid, his hair matted and sticking to his forehead, beads of sweat rolling down his dirty and scratched up skin. His heart is pounding as he tries to figure out what happened, desperately trying to remember what he was doing the previous night and how he ended up where he was now. He didn't remember anything out of the ordinary; Kyungsoo cooked dinner last night and Junmyeon had nagged him to wash his dirty laundry and clean up his mess of a room. Apparently Jongin was starting to complain to their leader behind his back about a foul smell. _Yeah, whatever, Jongin._  

He takes another few seconds to scope out the room, feeling his anxiety dwindle in the slightest when coming to the conclusion that he's alone. However, he won't be alone forever and he needs to get himself out of this mess fast if he wants to live. Which, you know, he'd prefer that option over dying. He thinks hard, his mind desperately thinking back to ever single mystery drama, thriller movie, or book he's read to figure out a way out of this. He has options: break out of his ropes like he's Thor, or rock his chair side to side until he falls over and wiggle himself out. The last one would definitely cause more commotion, but then again he wasn't Thor, so what he had to do seemed pretty clear to him in the moment. Closing his eyes and inhaling deeply, he throws all his weight to the right, causing him to crash into the dirty floor instead. He's groaning quietly as the room around him moves, swearing under his breath about the complete and utter failure he just endured. If he didn't know this before, Sehun definitely knew now that he wasn't the most graceful or elegant person out there. Actually, now that Sehun's on the floor, he's not sure how that was supposed to help free him. The rope tied around his wrists are now tighter than they were before and Sehun's starting to think that he's an easy target. He'd have to Thor it apparently. 

He sighs deeply and wiggles his hands around, his heart leaping in his chest when feeling space form between his wrists. _Almost, almost._  He starts to pull his wrists apart, the rope digging into his skin as it attempts to resist his actions. Once he's able to stretch it wide enough, he slips a hand through, a gasp escaping him as he removes his other hand from the ropes. He then bends over (the best that he can considering he's lying on his side on the floor) and hastily frees his feet from the ropes. Scrambling to his feet, Sehun looks around the small and plain room with wide eyes. The wall had no wallpaper on it, it seemed to be just a faded concrete and the floor wasn't much different. However, there's a rusted metal door in the back of the room and Sehun's certain that the door wasn't there just a few minutes ago. He takes in a deep breath, something inside of him telling him to open the door. Maybe it would lead to his freedom, maybe it would lead him somewhere a lot worse. His feet start to carry him towards the door without his permission, swearing under his breath as he stares at the old door that's now in front of him. He hesitates before lifting his hand, carefully wrapping his fingers around the cold metal handle. Within a second he's pushing the door open, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up as he's only greeted with darkness and silence. Despite every cell in his body screaming at him to turn back, to just stay in the previous room and wait for whoever put him there in the first place, he forces himself to move forward and to walk into the dark and empty room. The walls are narrow, this much he can tell as he lets his hands trail along the sides of the wall as he walks in order to keep his balance. 

It's dark, _so dark_ and he if he were to hold out his hand in front of his face he wouldn't even be able to see it. The only thing he can hear is his heart pounding in his chest and his shallow breathing. He has no idea if he's in a room or in a hall, and he has no idea if he's alone. Is someone with him? Is there anything following him? He couldn't tell; he had no way of knowing. He jumps suddenly when he hears a thud in the distance, squeezing his eyes shut as he momentarily shuts down, standing completely still. "Move, Sehun." He whispers to himself, trying to give him some kind of a pep talk. However, just when he talks himself into having any sort of bravery at all, he hears something rolling across the floor in the distance. Before he can even wrap his head around it, he can see the light on the wall to his left, his eyes widening when realizing that it was a flashlight rolling across the floor. It slowly comes to a stop just before reaching his feet, Sehun looking around with wide eyes before bending over and picking up the small silver flashlight. "H-Hello?" He's not entirely sure why he just called out when in every horror movie he's ever seen the first person who calls out in a dark and empty room immediately dies. He timidly shines the light around, coming to the conclusion that he is in fact in a hallway. There's only one door in the hall, on the far end located on the right. The placement is odd, though he doesn't give it much thought. His pace picks up as he walks down the hall, his footsteps echoing as he makes his way towards the door. There's a blue omniscient light shining above the door, though he can't seem to find the source of it. It's as if the light just simply exists. Still, it's drawing him in and Sehun's having a hard time saying no.

He comes to a sudden halt when he makes it to the door, his hand hovering over the door knob as the other hand grips onto the cold flashlight. He wasn't sure what would be behind this door. If it would be good or bad, whether it was something Sehun wanted to see or not. "Breathe." He whispers to himself firmly before twisting the door knob, everything in his body freezing when seeing the sight in front of him. 

The room was set up similarly to his, though there was a single light hanging from the ceiling. It wasn't encased in anything, just a wire as it eerily swayed in the room, no breeze to be felt. His eyes are locked on something, however, or rather _someone_. Words are stuck in the back of his throat as he slowly inches forward, his eyes watering as he struggles to make sense of the situation. How could this be happening? There, in the corner of this empty and lonely room, sat the half decomposing corpse of Byun Baekhyun. "B-Baekhyun." Sehun chokes out, dropping to his knees as he can do nothing but stare at the deceased vocalist. 

"Sehun." Everything stops the moment he hears that shrill voice. Every hair on his body stands, his blood running cold as his eyes widen in absolute terror. He doesn't want to, though he can't stop himself from slowly looking up, his heart slamming in his chest. He lets out a scream when seeing Baekhyun staring straight at him, falling onto his back before trying to scramble away. "No! This isn't real! There's no way this is real!" He shouts, pressing his back against the wall, burying his face into his hands as he squeezes his eyes shut. 

"Sehun." 

"Stop!" Sehun shouts, the door that once let him in now vanished. He was stuck in here with Baekhyun and that reality was utterly and completely terrifying to him. "You're dead. Why are you talking? Why-"

"Why didn't you help me?" The voice is strained and broken, Baekhyun's eyes blank and lifeless as he stares at the younger male. "Why didn't you come save me?" Sehun flinches when seeing a bug crawl out of Baekhyun's ear before crawling into one of the empty eye sockets, Baekhyun completely unfazed by this. 

"What are you talking about? No, no. I don't need this. You aren't real. I'm not listening to you!" He shouts, his eyes watering as he curls into himself, muttering to himself under his breath in an attempt to keep himself calm. He wanted his mother right now, his father too. Hell, he even wanted Junmyeon or Kyungsoo in this very moment. Maybe even Minseok. Why was he here? What did he do to deserve this?

"Why didn't you save me, Sehun!" His voice roars across the room, Sehun screaming as he tries to tune out the other. **" _You let me die!_ "** 

"No. No.  _ **NO!**_ "

_"Sehun!"_

Sehun jolts awake with the image of Baekhyun's rotting corpse burned into his mind, bugs swarming out of his mouth when he screamed, **" _You let me die!_ " **and the remaining members hovering over him as Kyungsoo throws the sheets off the poor boy. "Sehun, it was just a nightmare. It was just a nightmare." Jongdae keeps repeating as he climbs onto the bed, taking the man's face into his hands as he cradles the sobbing man. 

"No!" Is the only thing Sehun can manage to choke out as he leans into Jongdae's touch, his fingers curling into the fabric of Jongdae's shirt as he keeps himself pressed to the other, sobbing into his chest as he frantically tries to tell himself that everything was a dream. He was never kidnapped and Baekhyun wasn't dead. He wasn't. He just couldn't be. That's not how things worked. Jongdae's singing in his ear, trying to bring the boy back down from his fright as he rocks him gently in his arms. It works, with some miracle provided to Jongdae, and Sehun eventually goes quiet as the tension leaves his body. Jongdae sighs and looks over at the concerned and freaked out faces from everyone else. 

"We should call Junmyeon."

 

Today was supposed to be his one day to sleep in late, not wake up to his phone constantly ringing with five missed calls, three voicemails, and seven text messages. He really thought someone died or that his manager found someone for him to collaborate with on an upcoming single. In fact, he _should_ be in bed right now, not pacing around in the parking lot of a small cafe. He didn't know why he agreed to come here, but dammit if Luhan didn't sound convincing on the phone. 

"Kris, get a hold of yourself. If they see you pacing in the parking lot they're going to think you're insane." Yifan mumbles to himself before stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jacket, a small huff leaving him. "Man up. It won't be that bad. Sure, you're going out to visit four of your ex group mates, one of which is more than likely still super pissed about you leaving. The other two left too, sure, but you'll will always be dubbed as "the first member that left the group" and therefore you still have the most haters out of all the ex-members." That title left a rather bitter taste in his mouth and Yifan couldn't help but scrunch up his nose at that. "I guess the worst thing that could happen would be Junmyeon throwing a cup of coffee in my face." He grumbles to himself, pulling at the scarf that was wrapped around his neck tightly, the warm fabric brushing against his nose and lips as he heads inside. He was wearing a beanie and sunglasses, which might look weird in the middle of winter, but Luhan had asked him to show up discreetly, and Yifan didn't know what discreet was even if it were to bite him in the ass.

He has to force himself from turning around and running back to his car, which was rather cowardly but hell, certain fans of EXO have been calling him that for the last several years so he figured he didn't have much to lose anyway. He lets out a shaky sigh before walking up to the door and pulling it open, his stomach churning as he scans the lounge wearily before eyes landing and locking with Luhan. He nearly shouts out for Yifan before realizing that they were in the middle of a cafe, gesturing the other over with a nod of his head. Tao was there, nestled next to Luhan and looking the most comfortable he's ever been. Junmyeon's not there and neither is Yixing, which is something that Yifan wasn't expecting. Still, he decided not to argue with it.

"Kris, I'm so glad you could make it!" Luhan says in a cheerful manner, the taller man lingering awkwardly by the booth, glancing over at Luhan. "Yeah, well," he clears his throat awkwardly, "you kinda blew up my phone. So..." There's an awkward pause before Yifan realizes he looks like a weirdo and sits down across from the two. "Yixing and Junmyeon aren't here."

"You wanted them here?" Luhan asks with a raised eyebrow. Yifan grows clearly flustered at this before Luhan laughs quietly. "Kidding. I didn't tell them I was meeting up with the two of you because I didn't want it to be awkward. I just said I had family things to attend but that I'd be back by the time they head over to Yeon's." Yifan can finally feel the tension leave his body, leaning back against the fabric of the booth as a song plays in the background that he's not sure he's heard before. It's when Luhan's expression grows more serious that Yifan feels the tension flow right back into him. "I asked you two to meet here so I could ask you about Baekhyun."

"What about him?" He asks flatly, already hating where this topic was going. He's not sure what else he was expecting; why else would Luhan want to meet with him and Tao? The three hadn't spoken with each other since they all split from the group. Did he think this would be some sort of normal meet up? 

"Do either of you- have either of you heard from Baek before he went missing? Anything at all." Tao and Yifan sit in silence as they think over his question carefully. "He must have said something to either of you at least once. I know that you were still in contact, Yifan." He clears his throat and cautiously looks over at Yifan. The taller man feels himself shrink under Luhan's gaze, his cheeks reddening as he grows flustered once again. Why did this keep happening to him? 

"I checked in on him every now and then..." Luhan only silently prompts him to continue. "The three of us know better than anyone how SM treats their employees. I knew how fragile and sensitive Baekhyun could be a times and I didn't want SM to destroy him because of that. So after I left I managed to get in contact with him before staff ransacked their phones and had them block me on every social media account they had. All I did was tell him that I would be there for him if he ever needed me."

"Did he ever actually reach out to you though?" Luhan asks as he leans across the table. "Before he went missing?"

"He only sent me one message a few months before he went missing." He says quietly, chewing on his bottom lip anxiously. "All he said was that he got himself into some trouble and he didn't know how to fix it. I wasn't sure what he meant and he wouldn't go into any further detail than that." He sighs softly, pulling at his fingers anxiously. "No matter how hard I pressed he wouldn't tell me. He just said that if he told me I would get involved as well and that he didn't want that."

Tao and Luhan exchange looks with each other, though before either one can speak up Yifan continues. "There was once where he called me out of the blue. I just finished shooting for a music video in LA so I know he was up at some ungodly hour." He snorts under his breath, Tao and Luhan watching with interest. "He sounded upset. It's rare that Baekhyun calls me, so I always make a point of answering when he does. He sounded like he had been crying, but I'm not sure if he was crying before he actually called. You know him, Baekhyun isn't the type to openly admit when he's been crying. The strangest thing about the call was that he didn't even say anything. I just sat on the phone with him for fifteen minutes, not saying anything and he's just crying on the other side of the line. Fifteen minutes, guys. He cried for fifteen minutes straight on the phone without even saying why. And then when he finally calms down, I think he's going to explain to me what's going on, he just says goodbye and hangs up." Tao and Luhan sit in a stunned silence, both staring at him with wide eyes. "And then, the cherry on top, is that he blocks me on everything after. He blocks my number and I never hear from him again until I see him on the news a few weeks later for his disappearance."

"Shit." Luhan swears quietly after a few seconds of passed silence, running a hand through his hair. "You didn't tell the police this?"

"You think they'd care? You saw how they treated his whole case. They'd just brush it off as an overworked idol sobbing over the phone because he was feeling overwhelmed. You know that." Luhan nods along to this. "He didn't say why he was crying though?"

"He said nothing the entire call until he hung up. I don't even know why he blocked my number. I thought I just pissed him off or that the staff found out he was still in touch with me or something." 

"What about you, Tao? Did anything like that happen with you?" Luhan asks as he turns to face the other male who was looking visibly distraught by this point in the conversation. 

"He still talked with me too." He says, his voice not above that of a whisper. "And sometimes he'd message me saying that he didn't feel like he could talk with the other members. Especially after you left, Luhan. He kept telling me that you were the one member that made him feel sane." Luhan frowns when hearing this, leaning back in his seat. If this were true, then why didn't Baekhyun ever bother to get back in touch with him then? Why would he get in touch with Yifan and Tao but not him? He couldn't help but feel hurt, but he needed to push that aside in order to focus on what's in front of him and what he knows now. Which, ultimately, was little to nothing. Tao's fiddling with his fingers, his eyes looking at anything but Luhan and Yifan. "Sometimes he was a little vague with what he was saying to me, and he never called me like he would with Yifan."

"Did he do anything weird with you like he did to me?" Yifan asks gently, scooting over in his seat so that he's in Tao's line of sight. The younger grows flushed at this, smiling slightly as he leans back in his seat. "Not really. He never told me- uh," Tao loses his train of thought quickly, Luhan and Yifan exchanging a look with each other before Luhan carefully nudges the other to continue, "he messaged me once about his situation. He was vague and he was making it to be that a friend of his was in trouble. I didn't piece anything together until right now, I guess."

"What did he tell you?" Luhan's a little too quick to question and Tao visibly flinches at this. "Sorry." Luhan mumbles. "I know it's hard for you, but you need to tell us. It could help us with finding where he's at and what happened."

"A week before he disappeared he messaged me. It wasn't really out of the blue because we had talked about our schedules a few days prior. He said that a friend of his got in trouble and that he needed some advice. I asked him what happened and he says that his friend got involved with someone who was, by the definition, shady as hell."

"Baekhyun got involved with someone that he thought was shady as hell?" Yifan asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Look, he only told me so much. He didn't tell me why his friend, er, why _he_ got involved with this person. Just that he somehow got involved with him."

"So this person is a him?" Luhan asks. "You know that for sure?"

"He always addressed the person with him and he pronouns." Tao says softly. He's startled out of his thoughts when a waitress walks over with three coffees, placing them in front of each male. She bows slightly before walking away, Luhan mumbling a thanks under his breath. "I ordered us some coffees before Kris came in." He hums, wrapping his fingers around the handle and bringing the warm beverage up to his lips. "Sorry for interrupting you, Tao."

"It's alright." He whispers, his hands wrapping around the warm mug. "Uh, yeah. He addressed the person as a man. He said that his friend got involved with this person through bad choices."

"Bad choices?" Luhan asks, nearly choking on his coffee. "What do you mean by that?"

"I don't know. He didn't tell me." He sighs. "I said he was vague, okay? He made bad choices and got involved with this guy." He runs his hands over his face, burying his face in them afterwards. "He told me that his friend didn't know what to do and that there might be grim consequences if didn't figure it out. I don't know what exactly- Baekhyun said that his friend was being stalked and his friend got involved with the stalker to try and make him go away, but it only made things worse. He described it as adding fuel to the fire." 

"You're serious?" Yifan asks with wide eyes. "Jesus."

Tao only nods his head in reply. "I didn't really know what to say to him. He said that the stalker was threatening to hurt his friends. I thought that meant that Baek could get hurt too, since the person he was talking about was his friend, but he assured me that he was safe. Now looking back at it I realize that Baekhyun was the friend he was talking about and that he probably wasn't," his eyes water and he clears his throat loudly, pushing his mug of coffee away before Luhan squeezes his shoulder comfortingly, "that he wasn't safe like he told me."

"I need to tell J-"

"Is this my fault?" Tao interrupts Luhan and looks at the two men with wide eyes. "Is this my fault? I could have stopped this, right? I didn't- I didn't realize Baekhyun was talking about himself. I thought he was telling the truth when he said he was talking about his friend!" Yifan starts to panic when he sees tears threatening to spill from Tao's eyes, leaning over and taking his hands into his own. 

"Tao, listen to me, okay?" His voice is soft and he's craning his neck so that Tao will look him in the eyes. "It wasn't your fault. Baekhyun told you it was about his friend and that he was safe. He didn't give you any reason to believe that it was about him. You weren't even in EXO anymore; you had no idea what had been happening with him anyway. You only knew what he had been telling you." The last thing Yifan wanted to see was Tao crying. Yifan liked to think of himself as a tough guy (with a very goofy side, but we won't talk about that right now) who rarely got emotional, but damn, any time he saw Tao get choked up he would get choked up. Tao was just that kind of person. "Look at me," his voice is soft and it manages to get Tao to make eye contact with him, "it wasn't your fault. Don't beat yourself up over this. He's a grown man who made a decision not to tell you. You can't get mad at yourself for not solving the puzzle when you weren't given all of the pieces in the first place."

"Thanks." Yifan barely caught that with how light his voice was, but he felt relaxed and grateful that he managed to keep the younger from wailing in the middle of a cafe. Luhan clears his throat and places some money on the counter, his eyebrows furrowed and a distant look in his eyes. "Thanks for, uh, meeting me today. I need to get back to Junmyeon and Yixing. I'll message you later." He chokes out before sliding out of the booth and hurrying out the building. He couldn't handle this.

 

Junmyeon sighs as he listens to Jongdae on the other side of the line. "What do you mean Sehun's refusing to sleep in his room anymore? Are you- _he moved his mattress into the living room?_ " He pinches the bridge of his nose, a deep sigh escaping him. He knew he shouldn't have left. He leaves and what happens? Sehun has a mental break and moves into the living room, apparently going mute in the process as well. "What do you mean he's refusing to talk to anyone but you? Jongdae, _Jongdae-_ would you please just put him on the phone? Please?"

Jongdae turns from his spot in the kitchen to look at Sehun, a sigh leaving his lips. "Alright." He says after a long second, making his way into the living room and the shaken up man. "Sehun, do you want to speak to Junmyeon?" He asks gently, crouching down in front of him. "Would that make you feel better?" He looks at him with a concerned expression before the younger male hesitantly reaches out to take the phone from his hands. 

"Hello?" Junmyeon feels himself sigh in relief when he hears Sehun's voice. It sounds broken and empty though and it makes Junmyeon want to fly back home that very moment just to hold him. "What's up?" He asks him softly. "What's going on? Is what Jongdae said true? Are you camping out in the living room?" There's a long silence that follows before the other speaks up. "Jongdae said I could sleep in his room with him since you're out of town." 

"Sehun, look." He runs a hand through his hair as Yixing watches him from his spot in their hotel room, his lips turned down slightly in a frown. "I know that everything going on right now is really scary, alright? I know that things might feel...unsafe, but Yixing and I, we're working on it. I understand that your room might be the last place you want to be in right now and I completely understand. If you want, we'll swap rooms when I come back. You can room with Jongdae. Jongin can pick a different room too if he wants. I don't know what it must be like to find cameras in my room-"

"Do you ever feel like we didn't do enough to help Baekhyun?" Junmyeon's caught off guard from Sehun's question, and if this had been a different situation he would have nagged at the other for interrupting him. 

"What do you mean?"

"Like," Sehun licks his lips nervously as he glances around, Jongdae watching him cautiously from the kitchen counter, Kyungsoo and Chanyeol standing beside him, "we didn't do anything. He kept asking us for help and we ignored him. We let this happen, Junmyeon." Sehun can hear Junmyeon sigh from the other line, in fact he knew he was probably running a hand through his already messed up hair from stress.

"Sehun-"

"I know he never asked us for help. Not directly, but it was still there. He dropped things for us to see and just walked right by them. Do you think we let him down?" Jongdae exchanges a look with Kyungsoo before the pair steal a glance at Chanyeol. Chanyeol grew heated when it came to talking about Baekhyun. Jongdae was no exception; he was just better at holding his tongue. Most times, anyway. Chanyeol seems unbothered, however, as he sips from his mug of hot chocolate, eyes on Sehun as he talks on the phone with their leader. 

"I just hope this goes well." Kyungsoo whispers to Jongdae who just grunts in return before walking over to the sink, deciding that it would be better for him to wash the already clean dishes instead. 

Junmyeon's in a hard spot as he pulls at the collar of his shirt, Yixing watching him with a raised eyebrow, clearly wanting to know what conversation they're holding. "Sehun, I think you're being too hard on us and yourself. We didn't know what he was going through."

"Because we never took him seriously. We were too used to him joking around that when things actually grew serious we dismissed him."

"We never, no one ever dismissed him, Sehun." Junmyeon can't help but grow defensive, but he constantly reminds himself that Sehun's had a hard day and to try and give him a break. He's stressed out too, just like everyone else. He's allowed to ask these kinds of questions. "Sehun," his voice is soft after taking a moment to calm down, "yes, I get where you're coming from. We could have done more. We can do more. That's what we're doing right now, isn't it?" There's a silence on the other end, so long that Junmyeon's starting to think that Sehun hung up on him before he hears his breath hitch. "Sehun?"

"What if it's our fault that Baekhyun's dead?"

Both Junmyeon and Sehun jump from the sound of shattering glass in the background, Sehun whipping his head around to see Chanyeol standing at the counter, hot chocolate dripping over the sides and onto the floor, drops of crimson red falling from his hand and onto the counter and mixing in with the hot chocolate. Sehun ignores Junmyeon's questions of, "what's going on?" and "what's happening; is everything alright?" and just keeps his gaze on Chanyeol's bleeding hand. 

Kyungsoo continues to silently scrub at a spotless glass bowl, eyes boring into the fine china as Jongdae tries to take a look at the taller's hand. Chanyeol yanks his hand away from Jongdae's hold, eyes empty and distant as he stares at Sehun. "If you ever indicate that Baekhyun's dead again, and blame it on _us_ , I will kill you with my own bare hands."

"Chanyeol!" Jongdae gasps with a horrified expression. "You can't just say that to him! Where are you going? I'm talking to you!" Chanyeol pays him no attention as he walks out of the kitchen and through the hall, slamming his bedroom door shut after a few seconds. Kyungsoo swallows hard as he stares into the sink, his eyes watering before closing them and forcing himself to take a deep breath.

"Sehun, can you please tell me what's happening?" Yixing's standing behind Junmyeon now, rubbing at the man's back who sounds two seconds away from having a full blown fit. "Sehun-"

"I have to go. See you soon." Junmyeon can hear Sehun's voice trembling and sniffling in the background before the line disconnects. Junmyeon tosses the phone beside him on the bed, burying his face in his hands. "Where the hell is Luhan?" He groans silently, turning around slightly so he can look at the other. "Did he say anything to you last night about going somewhere in the morning? And did he say that he was meeting with Tao or something?" 

"No, and why would he be meeting with Tao? Where'd you get that idea from?" Yixing responds, taking the seat beside him. Just as Junmyeon opens his mouth to answer the other, the door is pulled open by a breathless and disheveled Luhan. "Where were you?" Junmyeon immediately shoots, the leader more pale and exhausted looking than he was just hours before. 

"Out." He responds as he shimmies out of his coat, dumping in onto the chair by the door. 

"That's it? That's all we get?" Junmyeon asks out of disbelief. "You've been gone for five hours, Luhan! You can't just disappear on us-"

"Would you chill out? It's not that big of a deal." Luhan shoots back. He wasn't in the mood to be interrogated by someone who was just pissed and looking for a person to take it out on. "What I do in my free time is none of your business."

Junmyeon wasn't sure why everyone was interrupting him today but it was starting to grow old. "It became _my_ business when _you_ decided to drag yourself into this mess. I don't ever remember asking you to put ideas into Minseok and Kyungsoo's heads at Baekhyun's funeral. I didn't even want you to come to Korea," Luhan only scoffs at this as he crosses his arms over his chest, "but Yixing and Minseok somehow talked me into calling you. In fact, I didn't even want to be here, and now I'm in a country in a town that I've never even heard of before. And then you have the nerve to run off in the morning without letting either of us know where the hell you're going, when mind you there is a _fucking lunatic_ out there, and then just waltz right back in and tell me that it's not my business. And please, _please_ tell me why Tao has been blowing up my phone all morning about how Baekhyun disappearing is his fault, but not to worry because he'll fix it?" Junmyeon's voice cracks as he speaks due to the fact that he's running out of breath. Yixing pulls at the sleeves of his shirt as he watches from his spot on Junmyeon's bed, fingers curling and uncurling as he watches the two in front of him. He's never been a fan of confrontation and this whole thing was making him rather anxious. On top of that, it was rare to see Junmyeon get so worked up, but with everything going on around them he wasn't surprised that Junmyeon was reaching his breaking point.

"If you don't want me here then I'll be happy to leave, you know. But just know that without me you'll never figure out this mess."

"Is that so?" Junmyeon laughs in disbelief, throwing his hands in the air. "Is that really so? You really think that?"

"Yes, I do. I saw how you guys treated Baekhyun. You made him out to be crazy whenever he voiced concerns to you. You drove him away and every time you did he came to me. In fact, once I left he felt so isolated that he started to call Kris and Tao anytime he was upset instead of going to his own leader!" Yixing's not sure when this became a yelling match, but he can feel his ears ringing from how loud the two are yelling at each other. Junmyeon's also out of his seat and in Luhan's face while Luhan looks down at him, who's saying just the things to push his buttons. "You knew nothing about your own member."

"If you knew so much about him, then why is he still missing, huh?" Junmyeon shouts, taking a step back so that he can refrain from doing anything that he might regret. "Stop acting like you're so much better than the rest of us. You don't think Baekhyun wasn't mad at you for leaving? You act like we treated him so bad, that we never listened to him, but you still left him. You left him when he supposedly needed you the most. If I'm a shit leader than what does that make you?" His words drip venom and Luhan can't keep himself from throwing the first punch. Yixing's shouting for the two men to stop, that becoming physical won't solve anything. He's trying to get in between the two, though when he's nearly punched himself (from who he's not sure) he decides that maybe it's not the wisest to get in between two fighting men. 

"You," Luhan points a finger at the man across from him who's panting, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth where Luhan hit him, "you killed Baekhyun. You did this. Not me. You." Junmyeon stares at the other with wide eyes, a shout leaving him as he lunges at the man, throwing him onto the floor. 

"Junmyeon! Stop!" Yixing shouts as he rushes over to the two. He tries to pull Junmyeon off Luhan when he sends a punch straight to his nose, Yixing praying to every god he can think of that Junmyeon didn't break it. "You could have stopped him!" Luhan shouts as he shoves the other off him. "You could have but you didn't! Why am I a piece of shit for leaving, huh? You let Baekhyun leave too! You didn't stop him!" Junmyeon stares at the other in disbelief before turning to look at Yixing. 

"You told him?"

Yixing looks like a deer caught in headlights as he looks between the two bruised and bloodied men, fidgeting with his fingers as he shifts in his spot nervously. "I thought that if I told Luhan about what happened that it would help. I didn't think...I didn't think he would throw it back in your face like this." His voice is trembling as he looks at the two men that he can barely recognize. "Junmyeon, I'm sorry."

"We'll talk about this later." He mumbles before looking back at Luhan. "Take it back." Luhan just looks at him as if he's lost his mind. "Take it back, Luhan." His voice is dangerously low as he approaches the other.

"Why? Why would I take it back? It was two in the morning, Junmyeon. Two in the fucking morning and you didn't even bother to ask him what he was doing or where he was going. Baekhyun had been acting like a paranoid freak for the last three months and you let him leave the dorms at two in the morning without any questions? If you cared, you sure had a funny way of showing it."

"He said he was meeting a friend!" He shouts, eyes watering as he runs a hand through his hair. "You weren't even there!" His voice cracks as he throws his hands in the air. "We were supposed to see a movie that night and I canceled, okay? I canceled last minute because our manager booked me to film for a commercial last minute, for some brand that I've never even heard of before." He's choking up as he wraps his arms around himself. "The movie was supposed to be at night and we would have been heading home around that time anyway. Baekhyun, Baekhyun said it was okay that I couldn't go but I know how disappointed he was. He's not great at hiding his feelings like that. It was going to be just the two of us and he said that he wanted it just to be us because we barely had time to hang out alone anymore. I didn't want to do the stupid shoot, okay? I pulled out the keys to the door just as Baekhyun opened it to leave. I asked him where he was going, so you can fuck off." He suddenly snaps, eyes narrowed as warm tears spill from his eyes and roll down his cheeks, his fresh black eye stinging from the liquid. "I asked him where he was going and he said that he was just going to hang out with a friend. That's all he gave me. I gave him the "motherly lecture" as you assholes have dubbed it and he told me he would be back in the morning. What was I supposed to do?" He yanks himself away when Yixing tries to place his hand on his shoulder, the other visibly flinching at this. "Say something, Luhan!" He shouts at the other who's quiet. "What was I supposed to do? Did you want me to have some sort of magic ball that allows me to foresee the future? Tell a grown man no and drag him back into the dorms? I already pissed him off once that day and I wasn't about to do it again. I'm their leader, Luhan, but I'm not their fucking mothers. I can't tell them that they can't have a social life or that they can't leave the dorms to meet up with a friend. How was I supposed to know that he wouldn't be coming back?"

"Junmyeon, I-"

"I have beaten myself up over this every single day for the last two years, so don't you dare tell me that I didn't care about him." There's a silence between the three men that no one has the courage to break before Yixing's ringtone goes off. He answers it before the second ring, desperately needing a distraction from everything going on. "Hello?" He's silent as he listens to the phone call, hanging up only a minute after.

"Who was it?" Luhan asks before tearing his gaze off Junmyeon.

"It was Yeon. She wants us to go back over to her house. She said she found footage and that we're going to want to see it."

\---

_A/N: happy birthday to our baby boy baekhyun!!! technically not a baby boy anymore lmao also i know i made everyone fight this chapter i am an awful person lmao but i live for that drama so _

__


	10. White noise

Jongin stares at Chanyeol's bedroom door from his spot on his bed with a worried expression on his face. He's been quiet since he lashed out at Sehun only hours before. Jongin's not sure if he's the only one, but he's been noticing a steady change occurring within the taller male. It makes sense to Jongin that Chanyeol would be battling inner demons during everything that's been going on, but what happened earlier was definitely a first. Never in all his years knowing him had he ever heard him seriously threaten to kill one of their members. It was alarming and Jongin had to watch Jongdae hold Sehun for the next two hours before he finally stopped sobbing. Chanyeol hasn't left his room since he stormed in there after yelling at Sehun.

He runs a hand over his face as he sighs and flops back onto his bed. Jongdae has been with Sehun nearly all afternoon in his and Junmyeon's shared bedroom. Chanyeol has been locked away across from his bedroom, practically locking Minseok out of the room. Minseok hasn't said much, so Jongin figured he wasn't really that annoyed. Instead, Minseok has spent the last few hours in the living room with Kyungsoo. Jongin just wishes that everything would go away; that everything could just simply fix itself on its own. Of course life is never that easy, but he can't help but wish. His eyes naturally make their way back to Chanyeol and Minseok's door when Jongin pushes himself to sit back up. It's been quiet in Chanyeol's room since he first went in there, and any attempts the members made to ask if he was okay were ignored. 

Since Baekhyun disappeared, it's safe to say that everyone had been impacted negatively from it. Everyone was changing either for the better or the worse, though Chanyeol seemed to be participating more in the last one. While he's remained optimistic over Baekhyun (Jongin will give him credit for that as that's no easy feat) he's become more withdrawn and seems to be less and less energetic with the other members as well as with fans. He's become quick to anger and Jongin's noticed that the spark that was once in his eyes was now nearly gone, and he's been eating less to add. He's voiced his concerns to both Junmyeon and Minseok, but they've both warned him that people cope differently and that Chanyeol needs his space and time to grieve in his own way. Jongin didn't want to ask Chanyeol about it himself, so he decided to keep his mouth shut. However, what he said to Sehun was completely unacceptable, still grieving or not. _"Everyone's allowed to grieve"_ , as Chanyeol has stated in the past several times. Why is it different when Sehun grieves? 

He sniffles quietly as he plays with the strings absentmindedly from the blanket that cover his lap. He wishes Yixing and Junmyeon would come back soon. The two of them always had such a calm and inviting aura surrounding them that it always got rid of his stresses and tensions. He'd call, but he doesn't want to stress them out any more than necessary. He has no idea what they're doing in China right now and he doesn't want to add to their list of problems. Chanyeol doesn't have to go back to his old self. It's perfectly acceptable to Jongin that he changes during this, but he does wish that his friend will come back and stop shielding himself away from the rest of the world. 

 

"I'm glad you guys came- did you guys get into a bar fight or something?" Yeon snorts when seeing Junmyeon sporting a busted lip and some bruising by his left eye and eyebrow, whereas Luhan had a lovely black eye that he was showing off. She clicks her tongue from the lack of response and instead moves aside to let the three men in. 

"What's on the cameras?" Luhan asks curtly, in no mood to fool around or beat around the bush. 

"Right." She says slowly, "Follow me." The three men exchange glances with one another before being led through the living room, past the kitchen, and into her bedroom. "I've been looking through each camera all night. I've gotten no sleep, so just stop me if I stop making sense at any point." She pulls out the chair from her desk, sitting herself down before logging into her desktop computer. "You might want to sit down. There's...a lot." She's struggling to properly phrase things together and that alone is enough to make Yixing grow uneasy. "I found years worth of footage on the six cameras you handed me. Most of the footage, I'd say over half, is of Baekhyun. Some of it is of Sehun, other times it's all the members or whoever happens to be in the room, sometimes it's you, Yixing." She speaks softly, as if her words might hurt any of the men. "We can watch all of the footage, though I'd recommend just showing you the clips that featured the most...uh, questionable footage. It would save you a lot of time. There's just a lot of footage when nothing is happening or no one is in the room. That's all." 

"Sounds good to me." Yixing says as Luhan sits on a chair, Yixing and Junmyeon sitting on Yeon's bed. 

"So the footage started around the beginning of 2014 and ended early last year." The three men feel chills run up and down their spines at that. That means they were recorded even after Baekhyun left. How was that possible and why? "The one I'm about to show you is from June 2014; this is when the cameras were originally placed and activated. I'm assuming you guys were away for either tour or promotions." She hums before clicking on the video to play. The footage is from the camera that was placed in the living room television. The clip immediately starts with a person dressed in a black hoodie stepping away from the television, clearly admiring their work. The intruder is wearing a white mask that has smudged red lipstick on the mouth, overly drawn pink blush on the cheeks, two straight lines drawn above the eyes to mimic eyebrows, and the word " **G O D** " written in sharpie across the forehead of the mask. 

"Well that's unsettling." Luhan deadpans while he keeps his eyes on Yeon's computer screen. "Indeed it is." She agrees quietly. "Keep watching." She instructs gently. They four watch as the masked intruder presses something on a small black device in their hands, the footage then switching to the camera wired into the ceiling fan before switching back to the television. They hear a muffled voice from the person, but it's hard to place who it belongs to. The masked person then calmly walks out of the living room and into the hall, disappearing from their sight. That is until the footage switches to the camera that was placed in Baekhyun and Jongin's previously shared room. Junmyeon inhales sharply as he examines the footage, his heart aching at seeing Baekhyun's things in the dorm. He can see his clothes tossed onto his bed and his shoes placed neatly by the closet, even his pack of gum on the nightstand beside his bed. Yixing senses Junmyeon tensing up and places a comforting hand on his thigh, flashing him a warm and gentle smile. Luhan chews on his bottom lip while watching the pair, his heart sinking before removing his gaze from them and placing it back onto the computer screen.

The person in the footage is rummaging around in their room, cautiously disregarding anything that belongs to Jongin and only looking for things that belonged to Baekhyun. They watch as they take his lucky shirt from the closet, his pack of gum, and even a sock. Luhan raises an eyebrow at this before watching the person casually stroll over to Baekhyun and Jongin's trash can, Luhan rubbing at his forehead soothingly as he watches them search through the trash cans, pulling out items that could have belonged to either Jongin or Baekhyun as there was no way of actually telling what belonged to who. "What the fuck?" Junmyeon sighs while watching them place the items in their black bag. They even watch as they dump Baekhyun's blue toothbrush into the bag.

"They must have gotten it from the bathrooms while the footage was switching from the cameras." Yeon explains to the men who look at her confused. "It's clear that they really only had an obsession with Baekhyun, but..." Her face is one of someone who's stressed and she clears her throat before carefully continuing. "I have reason to believe that they originally planned on kidnapping someone else as well. I have no doubt that Baekhyun was the original person they wanted, but it just seems to me that they planned on taking a second person." 

"Why do you think that?" Junmyeon asks her before the other two men can even comprehend what she was saying. "Are you saying that another member is in danger?" 

"It would make sense." Yixing shares his perspective. "Since Yeon said that the footage only stopped early last year. That's a little over a year after Baekhyun went missing. If they didn't plan on kidnapping someone else, wouldn't they have just deactivated the cameras after getting him from the start? There must have been a reason they were still filming. It doesn't seem like this person would have just forgotten about the cameras." He explains carefully while Yeon nods her head along to what he was saying. 

"They also seemed...cautious with their filming." 

"Could you elaborate on that please?" Luhan asks softly. 

"Sure." She says with a small smile. "I noticed throughout the footage that the cameras always focused on one other member in particular besides Baekhyun. Obviously footage focused on Yixing and Sehun as well at times, but it's just...I'm not really sure how to explain it. My gut is telling me that there's a second person they want." 

"I believe you." Yixing knows better than anyone what Yeon is like. She's a logical person who has her head on her shoulders straight. When her gut tells her something it usually ends up right. She's not the type of person who frets over nothing. "There's something else you guys need to be aware of." Her voice is more serious than it was a few minutes ago as she turns back to the computer. "The intruder was at your dorms for a little over an hour. I'd say almost two." She's forwarding through the footage, most of which is just the intruder walking around the dorms, eating from the fridge, stealing Baekhyun's stuff, etc. "Right here." She suddenly pauses the footage, zooming in on the intruder's hand. "Do you see that?" Yixing and Junmyeon get up and move behind Yeon, Luhan bringing his chair up next to her so he can see better. The three men lean in, eyebrows furrowing as they try to get a better look. "What-" Luhan starts though Yixing suddenly jerks away to stare at Yeon. 

"What? What is it?" Junmyeon asks before looking at Luhan, wordlessly trying to see if he knew what was going on too. Like Junmyeon, Luhan simply shrugs his shoulders to declare that he was just as lost as he was. 

"There were seven cameras, not six like we originally thought. He's holding a camera in his hand." Yixing explains when Luhan and Junmyeon still have confused expressions on their face. "Which means there's still a camera somewhere in the dorms." Luhan buries his face in his hands upon hearing this, a long and deep sigh leaving him while Junmyeon just stares at Yeon and Yixing with a freaked out expression. He lets out a shaky breath as he nods his head slowly. "Alright. We just need to get back to the dorms and look for the camera." He says as he abruptly takes a few steps back. 

"Not yet, Junmyeon." Yeon says. "There's more footage that you need to see." She motions for him and Yixing to sit back down. "This is only the first day." She cracks her knuckles before closing out of the current footage and pulling up a new one. "This is from September of 2017. This is when the intruder starts becoming more brave just to piss off Baekhyun and mess around with him and Yixing." Yixing makes a face at this, though says nothing and waits for her to continue. "Yixing was visiting the dorms from his stay in China." She quickly adds. "He goes back to China in just a few days, but in the span of him staying in the dorms the intruder really made sure to mess around with him. You'll see what I mean." She clears her throat afterwards. "At this time, the members were in Mexico City for The EXO'r DIUM. This left Yixing alone at the dorms for two or three days."

The dorms are empty once again when Yeon plays the clip, Yixing in his pajamas while walking around in the living room. In his hand are his keys and headphones for his phone. He looks down when his phone buzzes, mumbling something under his breath before walking towards the kitchen, dumping his headphones and keys on the counter. He walks over to the refrigerator in search of food, scratching the side of his head while scanning the shelves for something to eat. It's while he's standing there that the intruder walks into the room, Yixing completely oblivious as he continues to look through the fridge. 

"How on earth did you not hear them?" Junmyeon asks him with wide eyes. Yixing can only stare at the screen in horror, shaking his head wordlessly as he continues to watch. The intruder quietly takes the headphones from the counter and carefully scoops the keys into their hand. They walk off down the hall, Yixing closing the refrigerator door shortly after and looking dumbfounded when no longer seeing his keys or headphones on the counter. He stands in the middle of the kitchen for a second before shaking his head and leaving the room as well.

"That's alarming." Yixing says after a minute or two of silence. "I'm assuming that's how my items were becoming misplaced. For the longest time I thought I was just becoming too exhausted from schedules. I never thought it was weird despite it only happening to me at the dorms. When in China, I never misplaced my items." He mumbles to himself. "I wonder if- I wonder if that means they knew our schedules? Or if they were staying in the dorms without us knowing?"

"That seems like a stretch." Junmyeon says while deep in thought. "Maybe they knew our schedules, but there's no way they were staying in the dorms. One of us would have found out. There isn't many places for them to hide in the dorms and privacy isn't exactly a thing when we're all together." He snorts from the last part quietly. "I wonder how they keep getting in though."

"Is it possible they have an extra key? They could have swiped one from a member the first time they entered the dorms. They could have made a copy." Yeon suggests lightly. "With this person I'm starting to think that many things aren't unlikely. Anyway," she closes out of the clips, looking over a pad of notes she made on her desk, "a few months before Baekhyun disappeared I found footage of Luhan and Baekhyun searching in his room for cameras, there's a lot of footage of everyone showering, footage of Baekhyun leaving the night he disappeared, and that's about it. Anything else was pretty standard, like members walking into Baekhyun and Jongin's shared room or everyone watching movies together in the living room-"

'I'm sorry, one second." Junmyeon says before turning to face Luhan. Yixing just mutters something under his breath while Yeon watches with a confused expression. "You saw Luhan helping Baekhyun look for cameras in his room?" 

"Yeah. The footage was from August of 2014." Yeon confirms though gives him a questioning look. "Why?" 

"You knew about this?" Junmyeon tries to stay calm while asking Luhan. 

"Are we really going to relive today's earlier conversation?" The other man sighs. "I told you that Baekhyun came to me because no one else would take him seriously. He told me he thought there were cameras in his room so I told him I'd help him since it would calm him down." 

"Why didn't you tell me? This could have been prevented!" Yixing slowly gets up from his seat when Junmyeon starts to raise his voice and when Luhan gets out of his seat. 

"He did tell you. In fact he told you several times that he thought he was being watched. Just because you failed to acknowledge him whenever he came to you doesn't make it my fault. I did what I could and I tried to be there for him up until the moment I left." Yixing watches cautiously as the two men glare at each other, though it's Yeon who places herself in between the two. 

"Look," she sighs while keeping the men at arms distance, "it doesn't matter if Luhan helped Baekhyun look for cameras. What's done has been done and no matter how much you two want to blame each other for things it won't change how everything played out. You two screaming at each other and leaving one another with bloody lips and eyes won't fix things. Yes, maybe Junmyeon wasn't as attentive as he could have been, but he's also reasonable and logical. Not everyone is going to jump straight to the conclusion that someone's being stalked. Extreme things like this don't always happen the way things did. Luhan, you were a good friend for listening to Baekhyun, but that doesn't make you any better than Junmyeon. The fact that you keep throwing this in his face speaks for itself." She clears her throat before removing herself from in between them. "I don't know a lot about your situation or your relationship with Baekhyun, but I do know that if you want to find him or what happened to him that you both need to pull your heads out of your asses." 

"Can you become our personal therapist?" Yixing jokes to break the awkward tension. "Because you're pretty effective." She only laughs in response, playfully shoving him before going to sit back down. "That's all the footage I had to show you. If and when you find the seventh camera, you can call me and I'll fly down, or you can fly back to visit me. I wouldn't recommend mailing it to me; we don't know if the person is still watching you guys and keeping up with everything. It would be too risky." She offers a small smile as the three men nod their heads. "Do keep me updated though. And if anything should go wrong or you need assistance with anything, you know how to reach me." 

 

The three men are in their hotel room after the long day they've had, Junmyeon and Luhan still refusing to speak to one another. Yixing only sighs as he glances between the two, having volunteered to share his bed with Junmyeon as Junmyeon and Luhan had been sharing beds during their stay as Yixing normally likes to sleep alone. "Not my fault if I kick you in your sleep." Yixing jokes around with Junmyeon as he climbs into bed, wrapping the thick bedsheets around him happily while watching Junmyeon walk out of the bathroom.

"If you do, send him a kick for me." Luhan mutters under his breath from his bed, flipping through the television channels with the remote. 

"Be nice." Yixing warns as Junmyeon slips underneath the bedsheets as well. "I'm really tired, I think I'm going to sleep early tonight. We have an early flight in the morning so you two should do the same." He advises the other two, though Luhan only scrunches his nose in response. "I was going to sleep as well." Yixing hums while leaning over to turn off the light on the nightstand. "Luhan, if you plan on watching tv until you fall asleep, please keep it on a low volume." He mumbles before turning to sleep on his side, burying his face in the soft pillows.

"Anything for you." Luhan says. Junmyeon can feel his eye twitch in annoyance. Why does he need the tv on to fall asleep? Couldn't he listen to music or something? He knows how much he hates falling asleep to noise- then again that's probably why Luhan turned the tv on in the first place. He scoffs silently, Yixing gently kicking the back of his leg. "Don't start anything." He warns to where only Junmyeon can hear him. "Go to sleep." Junmyeon's not really used to being bossed around by the other, though he decides to listen to Yixing's warning and closes his eyes instead of finding something to fight with Luhan over. It only takes ten minutes of Junmyeon silently swearing in his head about the television before he finally drifts off to sleep.

 

The television is still playing when Junmyeon wakes up, the light from the screen illuminating the room as a pair of men fight on a cliff side in whatever movie was currently playing. His stomach was growling and he assumed that was the cause for him waking so suddenly. He didn't have any nightmares; actually he slept the nicest he's slept all week. He looks in Luhan's direction to see the older sleeping soundly, hugging his spare pillow tightly as if it were a teddy bear. He found it cute, but he wouldn't say that to his face. Or anyone's face, really. He's a lot easier to stand when he's asleep, that was for sure. 

He carefully gets out of bed to make sure that he doesn't wake up Yixing in the process before walking over to the mini refrigerator in the room. There wasn't much in it, though the three went out for dinner the other night and he did have something left over. He pulls out a small container of fries, throwing them into the microwave for thirty seconds. He glances over at the digital clock on the counter to see what ungodly hour he was up at to stuff his face with greasy fries. "What the-" he squints his eyes to make sure he was reading the clock right.

**DA:RK**

He's sleep deprived and it's starting to screw with his vision. He shakes his head and instead glances at the clock on his phone instead. He turns his lock screen on, eyes widening when seeing the time on it. 

**CO:LD**

Okay, maybe he's just actually losing his mind. He rubs at his eyes before looking back down at his phone and then the clock.

**4:32**

That's better. He laughs quietly to himself while shaking his head. He wouldn't stress himself out over his eyes playing tricks on him. It's late; that's why he's seeing things. People see things all the time when they're overworked or exhausted or even stressed out. This was no big deal. It was no big-

"What are you doing?" Junmyeon whips his head around so fast that he nearly gives himself whiplash. "Jesus, calm down." It was Luhan who's pointing at his hands. "You're burning yourself." Junmyeon gasps when suddenly realizing that he's holding onto his burning hot container of fries, dropping it onto the floor as pain spreads throughout his hands. When did he even get the fries out of the microwave? 

"I, uh..." he brings a hand up to his forehead. Was it hot in here? He looks up to respond to the older, though he's in bed asleep. Was he ever even awake? He looks around slowly with wide eyes before shaking his head, though the microwave beeping startles him out of his thoughts. He slowly and carefully opens the microwave door, staring in confusion when seeing the fries inside. He quickly looks back down to see no fries on the floor. He shakes his head and walks into the bathroom. Maybe rinsing his face off would wake him up. He slowly makes his way to the bathroom, being careful not to trip in the dark and wake the two sleeping men up. He turns the sink on, holding his hands under the cool water before gently splashing the water in his face. It's cool and refreshing. He's starting to feel relieved and awake.

"You shouldn't wash your face with that. It's dirty." Jongin's leaning against the doorway and Junmyeon thinks he's actually losing his mind. "I, uh, _what?_ " He stares at the taller man carefully, his mind trying to register if this was actually happening. "How did you get here? Did you fly to China? Minseok and Kyungsoo let you leave? I'll kill them-"

"The water is dirty." Jongin repeats again and Junmyeon just stares at him with furrowed eyebrows. 

"It's just hotel water." He says slowly. Jongin gestures for him to look at the sink, the older doing so. It's no longer pouring water, but instead a thick and red substance is oozing out and filling up the sink. Junmyeon slowly looks down at his hands, stumbling backwards when seeing them drenched in the red substance as well. "Why didn't you listen to me? You never listen to me. He's dying and it's all your fault."

"What is going on? Who's dying, Jongin?" His voice is filled with panic before he looks in the mirror, letting out a strangled shout when seeing the red liquid all over his face. "Jongin, what's happening-" His question falls onto deaf ears when turning to see no one in the doorway. He quickly looks back at the sink, regular water pouring from the faucet. He looks into the mirror. There's no blood on his hands or face. 

He's always wondered what it was like to suffer from a mental break and he thinks he's finally accomplished that. From fucked up clocks, to fries, to Jongin, to sinks pouring blood he thinks he's seen it all. That is until he sees Baekhyun sitting on his bed beside Yixing's sleeping body. He blinks a few times before looking around the room, trying to see if there's anything he can point out that would indicate that he's currently dreaming. He's heard from someone that you can find out you're dreaming by looking at your hands as you'd have extra or less fingers, or by checking the scenery as small things would be out of place. However, Junmyeon still has ten fingers and he's in a hotel room, so he wouldn't be able to figure that one out whether or not he wanted to. The two are just staring at each other, neither of them speaking. Junmyeon's too confused and scared to speak, still he decides to gather up his courage and make the first move should they stand there all night instead. 

"Baekhyun, what are you-"

"It's cold." 

"What do you mean?" Junmyeon didn't feel cold. It was actually pretty hot in the room. Was he sweating? He gently dabs at his forehead while Baekhyun continues to stare at him. "Aren't you cold?" He whispers. Junmyeon can practically see Baekhyun's breath as he speaks, something that makes the hairs on his body stand. "It's so cold, Junmyeon."

"Do you- do you want a blanket?" That was the lamest answer Junmyeon could think of, but at the same time it was all he could think of. 

"It's dark, too." Junmyeon only sends him a questioning glance. "I can't see anything. Can you?"

"I can see you." Junmyeon takes a step back when Baekhyun abruptly stands from the bed and starts to walk towards him. "Baekhyun, what's going on? Please explain to me what's happening." 

"I can take you with me. I can show you what I see." Baekhyun's black hair is flat and matted to his forehead, dirt covering his hands and face. His clothes are torn and dirty as well, a foul smell leaving him. When seeing the state that his member is in he slowly approaches the other, his heart aching as he looks at him closely. "You don't need to take me anywhere. What happened to you, huh?" He gently runs his hand over the front of Baekhyun's shirt, trying to wipe off as much dirt as he can. "Are you hurt anywhere?" He carefully cups his cheeks, examining him closely for any wounds or cuts. Baekhyun's only silent though, watching the man in front of him with a saddened look. "What happened-"

"Junmyeon! Junmyeon!" Junmyeon wakes up to Luhan shouting his name and a wide-eyed Yixing underneath him. Junmyeon blinks slowly, his cheeks turning a dark red when realizing that he was practically sitting on Yixing and cupping his cheeks. "Uh, sorry." He mumbles with a sheepish smile and quickly sits next to him. 

"Were you having a dream?" Luhan asks while opening the curtains to the window. It was sunny outside.

"I guess so." Was it really morning? It made sense to him that it was a dream. He had no idea how else he could explain Jongin showing up in the doorway and Baekhyun sitting on their bed. It just felt so...real to him. He shakes his head quickly while Yixing and Luhan talk in the background. "You better shower and get ready. We need to leave for our flight in an hour." Yixing says gently to the dazed Junmyeon. "Did you get any sleep last night? You look awful." Junmyeon narrows his eyes from the comment. 

"And you told me to be nice." Luhan laughs from Yixing's blunt question. 

\---

_A/N: when talking to me in the comments y'all can just call me byun or byunny if you want lol you don't need to call me authornim or anything it's chill. _

_also i just want to clarify something: up to this point i haven't revealed the gender of the intruder. If i've been typing "him" or "he" or "his" in the story while referring to them then it was accidental and out of poor habit. TT TT I want the gender to be a mystery until they're revealed! so please forgive me if i've made typos. it might be a man, it might be a woman. we don't know ;;u;; well, i know but--_

_do you like my mask inspo lmao_

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_**anyway, do y'all have any ideas where the seventh camera is located? or even who the second member was/is that the intruder wanted/wants? would love to hear your thoughts! :D** _


	11. Two ghosts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: double update :D  
> also I’ll give everyone a hint about Baekhyun. If you want to know more about what happened to him or if he’s alive or dead, I’d heavily suggest paying attention to the things he says in everyone’s dreams/memories starting LAST chapter.

Jongin's playing on his phone with Sehun pressed against his side when Junmyeon, Yixing, and Luhan walk in through the front door. "I'm so glad you guys are back." Kyungsoo groans while hurrying out of the kitchen. "Have you found anything out yet?" Junmyeon lets out a deep sigh from this, having not even put down his bags yet. 

"Actually, I think-" Jongin's soft voice is quickly drowned out by Kyungsoo and Minseok asking the men questions nearly non-stop, Sehun sighing softly as he positions his head to rest on the other's shoulder. "Junmyeon." He calls out though the leader doesn't even spare him a glance as he tries to listen to the concerns of everyone. He was getting fed up; it always seemed to go this way for him. He had a naturally soft voice when he was off stage and rarely liked to raise his voice. It was easy for him to go unheard and he found himself having a difficult time speaking over others or even speaking up for himself. He purses his lips when realizing he wasn't going to be grabbing his attention from the older members and turns to face Sehun afterwards. "Stay here; I'm going to check on Chanyeol since no one cares." Perhaps he was being a bit childish, but Sehun didn't seem to be bothered by it who only nodded in response. He slips out of his spot from the couch, walking down the hall afterwards. He disappears down the hall without another word, aimlessly standing in front of Chanyeol's bedroom door. His fist hovers over the wooden door before he lets out a sigh and knocks gently. "Chanyeol," he calls out, "open the door. Please?" 

A minute passes before he can hear the door unlocking from the other side. It doesn't open though, so Jongin decides to push open the door himself. "How are you feeling?" He asks while peering into the room. Chanyeol was curled up in his bed, the sheets hiding him away from the rest of the world. He looked like a small child hiding during a thunderstorm and it made Jongin's heart ache. "It's really dark in here." He comments when noticing that the curtains were all drawn. "Would you like it if I open them? It's nice and sunny out." He doesn't make a move for the curtains though, and instead carefully sits down on the side of the bed. "Chanyeol..." He pats his knee comfortingly. "We'll find Baekhyun. Sehun was just upset earlier; he didn't mean what he said. You of all people know that." 

"I know." His voice comes out so soft that Jongin nearly misses it. He's staring blankly ahead at the wall in front of him, Jongin pursing his lips while observing his empty expression. "I just want him back." 

"Why don't you come out for a bit? Junmyeon, Yixing, and Luhan just came back from China."

"Did they come back with Baekhyun?"

"Well, no-"

"Do they know where Baekhyun is?" He asks gently. He sounded exhausted, like it was taking energy from him just to speak.

"I don't know. They didn't say yet." Jongin answers truthfully. 

"Then I'm not going out." He turns on his side after saying that, pulling the sheets up further. "Why should I? I know what they look like." 

"Well, I'm certainly not going to leave you alone then." Jongin huffs quietly before hopping off the bed. "What you're doing isn't good for you. You can't isolate yourself from everyone all day. It will only make you sicker." He says before pulling the curtains open. Chanyeol flinches from the sunlight that's now streaming into his room, Jongin smiling as he looks out the window. "It's really nice out today, Yeol." 

Chanyeol just stares wordlessly at Jongin. "Are you hungry? You haven't eaten since yesterday afternoon." He says while turning around to face the other. "I can bring you some leftovers from dinner last night. You can't go all day without eating. It's already evening." He sighs from Chanyeol's lack of response, shaking his head after. "I'm going to help you get through this, Chanyeol. You don't have to do this alone." He crouches in front of the bed so that he's face level with him. "I want to help you get through this." He speaks softly, a small smile presenting itself on his lips. "You don't have to do any of this alone, you know." He frowns slightly when Chanyeol still doesn't respond, getting back up afterwards and heading back over to the bedroom door.

"Jongin?" Chanyeol's voice is shaky when it calls out to him and Jongin instantly turns around to give him his full attention. "Could you close the curtains?" Jongin feels his heart shatter in his chest before sighing softly and closing the door behind him. 

 

"Where do we even look for a seventh camera?" Minseok asks as he pinches the bridge of his nose. "This shit is getting so old." 

"I can't believe we were filmed for so long." Kyungsoo mumbles under his breath while sitting in Jongin's previous spot on the couch. "Is there a possibility that this camera is still active?" 

"Yeah." Yixing says after a few minutes of silence. 

"Did Yeon give you an idea of where the camera could be?" It's Minseok again, who's pacing back in forth in the living room. He was no doubt growing stressed from this. 

"You can't expect her to know these things. She only knows from the footage she saw on the cameras. She has no idea where it could be." The room falls into a tense silence as Jongin walks back into the living room, going straight into the kitchen without a word. "Jongin," Junmyeon calls out while watching the younger wander into the kitchen, "you need to come out here. It's important that you're included in the conversation." 

"Can't." Is all Jongin offers in response while raiding the refrigerator for something to give to Chanyeol. Junmyeon furrows his eyebrows in confusion from the nonchalant reply. "What do you mean you can't?" He asks while leaning over to peer into the kitchen. 

"I'm doing something else right now. You can fill me in later." Kyungsoo can feel his eye twitch from the younger's attitude, though decides to stay quiet and mind his own business. "Let him be." Jongdae says while patting Junmyeon on the back. "Everyone has things on their minds right now."

"Yeah, but it's still important that he knows what's going on. A seventh camera is a big deal and he needs to be aware-"

"A seventh camera? Cool. I'm aware now." Jongin calls out while placing strawberries into a blue bowl. Okay, Jongin knew damn well how childish he was acting, but at the same time he couldn't find himself to be bothered when everyone was ignoring him and dismissing Chanyeol. A seventh camera was actually extremely scary and it was making the hairs on the back of his neck stand, but right now he had Chanyeol to tend to and he refused to grow distracted. He knew for sure he'd be scolded by Kyungsoo and maybe even Minseok or Junmyeon later, but that wasn't his top concern at the moment. He can hear Kyungsoo mumbling something from the living room and he just chuckles under his breath. Kyungsoo really was adorable, even when he was annoyed. He adds a few blueberries and pieces of cut up mango to the bowl, trying to decide if that would be enough for the older male. 

He knew Chanyeol was depressed; that much was easy to tell. He knew that the older probably didn't have much of an appetite for an actual meal, so a bowl of fruit would be good enough until then. At least he'd have something in his body to keep him going. He only saw Chanyeol eat a few chips yesterday before darting back to his room when someone walked into the kitchen. He grabs a cup of water he poured for him, holding the bowl in his free hand before leaving the kitchen and heading back down the hall towards Chanyeol's room. He can hear Luhan and Jongdae call out to him, though he just simply closes Chanyeol's door behind him. 

"I brought you something to eat." Jongin walks over to the side of the bed where Chanyeol is, placing the cup of water and bowl of fruits on the nightstand. "I know how much you like strawberries, blueberries, and mangoes." He smiles warmly when Chanyeol glances up at him, sighing as he finally pushes himself to sit up. "You closed the curtains." He huffs quietly, walking back over and pulling them back open. "You can't stay in the dark all day. It's bad for your eyes." 

Chanyeol snorts under his breath, though takes a piece of strawberry from the bowl and pops it into his mouth. "I'm fine, you know." Of course Jongin only scoffs at this while taking a seat on the other side of his bed. "I didn't know that fine meant sobbing on your bed for the last day straight and threatening to kill one of your group mates." Jongin has a smug smile on his face and Chanyeol feels like punching him, though he assumed that he'd be proving him right by doing so. "Relax, I'm just messing with you." He says softly while patting his knee comfortingly. "Junmyeon wants everyone in the living room. He has stuff to tell us." He mumbles before lying down on the comfortable mattress. 

"I don't really care. If it's nothing telling me where Baekhyun is then I don't want to hear it." Jongin purses his lips while listening to the other speak. "Junmyeon said something about there being a seventh camera. If we find it then maybe it can show us what happened to Baek." He suggests carefully. It was concerning to him that Chanyeol didn't seem to care about there being another camera in the dorms. The whole situation was scary to him, but Chanyeol not caring somehow made everything scarier. "Chanyeol," Jongin says suddenly, sitting up and staring at his older group mate, "aren't you scared?" 

"I'm scared for Baekhyun. Not for myself." Jongin frowns slightly when hearing this. "I can defend myself from some intruder. I can handle myself just fine, but Baekhyun's always been more naive. He trusts too easily and sometimes he can give up fights as soon as they begin. I wish it would have just been me instead. I could have handled whatever they put him through." He curls into himself, resting his chin on the tops of his knees. "I could have handled everything. I don't take words personally; I don't let others get under my skin so easily. Baekhyun has such a- uh," he's getting choked up and Jongin can see tears forming behind his eyes, "I just wish it were me instead. I want to trade places with him, in fact I would give anything to trade places with him."

"Chanyeol-" Jongin starts though Chanyeol seems to be in his own world. He's not even sure if Chanyeol's aware that he's ranting to him or if he's just simply speaking his thoughts out loud. 

"I don't care if they'd kill me. If it meant getting Baekhyun back home safely it would be worth it to me. He has so much to offer to the world where I don't." His breath hitches as he inhales sharply, watery eyes looking around his empty room. "How do I make my heart stop hurting, Jongin? How do I make this feeling go away? It's only getting worse each day. I don't want to do anything until Baekhyun is back. I'm tired of interviews, I'm tired of promotions, I'm tired of acting like everything is okay. I feel like there's a hole where my heart should be. I'm just finding it to be so difficult to keep going on without him here. I know I sound like a melodramatic teenager but it's true. I don't know how to stop the ache in my chest. I don't want to feel anything anymore. I'm so- I'm so tired of this." He breathes out shakily.

"Chanyeol, that's not true. You don't sound like that at all." Jongin scoots over closer to the man, watching him carefully as he keeps his legs up to his chin. "It's normal to feel like this. You were his best friend. I wouldn't expect you to feel anything less."

"Jongin, I don't know how much longer I can do this." His voice is broken and quiet and it makes Jongin's blood run cold. "Chanyeol, what do you mean by that?" He asks gently. "Please tell me what that means." 

"I don't know- I don't know what I'll do if we find Baekhyun and he's not...and he's not-" He shakes his head quickly, a choked sob leaving him as he buries his face in his hands. He curls into himself even more, shielding himself away from the rest of the world. Jongin scrambles forward, wrapping his arms around the side of the trembling man tightly. His head is resting on his shoulder as he holds the crying Chanyeol, rubbing his back soothingly with one hand while the other keeps him close. "What if we never find him? What if I'm really never going to see him again or hear him laugh again? Jongin, what will I do? I don't want to think about what I'll do. He just has to come back. He has to." He uncurls himself and changes his position so that he can hide his face in Jongin's chest, sobbing loudly as he buries his face further into the soft fabric of Jongin's shirt. Jongin's practically sitting on Chanyeol's lap as he wraps an arm around his torso tightly, his other hand carding through his hair gently. 

"Don't think like that. You don't need to think those thoughts." He whispers before resting his head on top of Chanyeol's. "I'll do everything I can to help you get through this. We'll find answers, Chanyeol. You don't have to do this alone." He's trying to keep himself from crying so that he can give Chanyeol some sense of comfort and security, though it's becoming increasingly harder to keep his own eyes from watering. "You're going to tear yourself apart if you just sit in the dark all day thinking about everything that could have gone wrong or all the different ways you could have prevented this. That's not how things work and you'll only eat away at your sanity." His fingers are gripping onto the fabric of Chanyeol's sweater as he keeps him close, struggling to keep his voice steady. "I miss him too, Chanyeol." His voice is breaking as he struggles to neatly sort his thoughts out. "And I beat myself up a lot for not stopping Baekhyun from leaving or for not listening to him when he was voicing his concerns. This isn't our fault though, Chanyeol. This isn't any of our faults, okay? More importantly, this isn't _your_ fault, okay?" He pulls away slightly and shakily cups his cheeks in his hands, gazing down at the broken man in front of him. "And if you are going to insist that it is your fault, let me carry the burden with you, alright? That's what band members are for. We listen to each other and we help each other out during hard times. That's why Luhan came back, right? Because we're all bonded for life."

Chanyeol shakily nods his head along to Jongin's words, more warm tears spilling from his eyes as he nuzzles Jongin's hands. Jongin didn't realize that he had been crying as well until his own tears dripped onto his shirt. Why did everything always have to be so emotional? "So," he sniffles quietly while wiping the tears from Chanyeol's face with his thumbs, "why don't we clean ourselves up and join the conversation in the living room? It sounded important and if we go out like this I think Junmyeon and Minseok will actually worry us into our graves." Chanyeol laughs quietly at this as Jongin leans over, grabbing some tissues from the nightstand beside the bed. "You know how they get. They take the parenting role too seriously sometimes." He mumbles as he gently dabs a tissue against Chanyeol's cheek so he could wipe off his tears. 

"We probably took ten years off their lifespans as a whole." Chanyeol giggles quietly. Jongin laughs at this as he continues to wipe Chanyeol's tears away with tissues. "Yeah, you're probably right. I think I can sometimes hear Junmyeon swear at us under his breath." The two erupt into even more giggles from this, Chanyeol beaming brightly while grabbing a tissue from the box and carefully wiping off Jongin's tears as well. 

"I don't see why he wouldn't." He snorts before burying his face back into his chest. "I don't want to leave. Can't we just stay in here for a bit longer?" He's hugging Jongin as if he's a life sized teddy bear and it's making Jongin a little lightheaded if he were being honest. "I need to breathe, Chanyeol." He chokes out. Chanyeol lets go and smiles sheepishly. 

"Alright, we can go, but if they don't give us information about Baekhyun then I'm leaving." He says while getting off the bed, Jongin getting up after him. 

"Let's just take things one step at a time, Yeol."

\---

_A/N: jongin makes my heart melt that is all. anyway, short little chapter about jongin & chanyeol, hope you liked it. this all becomes important later ^^_

_I made edits of the conversation Baekhyun had with the stalker that the members found back in chapter 5! I know the convo was on KakaoTalk, but I couldn't get the layout so I made a text version instead LOL_

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	12. Lonely nights

Jongin's lounging on the couch while playing some addicting game that he saw advertised on Instagram. He can hear Chanyeol and Baekhyun softly gossiping in the kitchen, Kyungsoo chiming in as well every few minutes. It brought a smile to his face to hear the three of them bantering; it was one of the many things that Jongin doubted he could ever grow tired of. Jongin chuckles to himself when hearing Baekhyun and Chanyeol burst out into loud laughter, Kyungsoo swearing after and no doubt hitting one of the two as a result. He huffs quietly when dying for the nth time on his game, exiting out of the app and placing his phone onto the couch beside him. He lifts his gaze when Junmyeon walks into the room, visibly stressed about something. 

"You look stressed. Try taking a nap." Jongin calls out though Junmyeon just snorts quietly. 

"Can't." He responds before disappearing. Jongin only shakes his head. The man worries himself too much; Jongin was convinced Junmyeon was going to take at least ten years off his lifespan simply from being the leader of their group. He can hear the laughter dying down in the kitchen the moment Junmyeon enters and his voice comes across as hushed and muffled. He raises an eyebrow at this, his curiosity getting the better of him as he carefully slides off the couch and makes his way towards the kitchen. 

"What's up?" Baekhyun asks, a small pout gracing his lips as he stares at the stressed leader. "Something happen?" Junmyeon's clearly avoiding the topic, rummaging through the cabinets for a dish. Jongin raises an eyebrow while sliding over to the fridge, acting as if he were looking for a snack. In reality Jongin's just incredibly nosey. He's probably the nosiest out of all his members. 

"I know you were excited to see The Last Jedi tonight," Jongin knows it's never a good sign when Junmyeon starts a sentence off where he states how excited you are to see something, especially with that notorious tone of his, "but Yongmin just informed me that I have to shoot for shoe ad tonight." It's hard to miss the look of defeat in Baekhyun's face though Jongin decides to keep his eyes on a bottle of mayo that sat untouched instead. 

"Ah, well, that's okay." Kyungsoo's quick to comfort the male, patting him on the back gently. "You can always see the movie another night, yeah?" Baekhyun only nods his head, a distant look in his eyes. Baekhyun didn't care about seeing the movie, he just wanted alone time with Junmyeon and that alone was something he had to fight to get. 

"It's alright, I understand." But still, Baekhyun refused to show himself getting upset over something that's so trivial, something that would just make him seem crazier to the rest of his members. Maybe he was being childish, maybe he wasn't. It's hard to hide the disappointment from his voice though and the smile that Baekhyun uses to cover it only adds to the already unbelievable statement. "It's not your fault. Yongmin likes to schedule things whenever he wants." He tries to joke though the humor was absent from his voice. Junmyeon's wearing a guilty expression on his face as he shifts uneasily in his spot. "We can just see it as a group another night. I know Jongdae's been dying to see it. I'm sure Sehun will enjoy it as well." There's an odd tone to Baekhyun's voice as he speaks, clearing his throat softly afterwards. "I think I'm going to take a nap." He speaks up before Junmyeon can say anything. "Have fun at your shoot tonight." He pats Junmyeon on the shoulder awkwardly before shuffling out of the room. 

"I think he's just tired is all." Kyungsoo says softly after a few seconds of silence pass. "Don't take it personal, Junmyeon. You'll get the chance to see it later." He flashes a warm smile at him, rubbing his arm gently before heading out of the room as well. Jongin watches quietly as he finally shuts the fridge door, a small frown tugging at the corner of his lips. He wasn't sure why the atmosphere was so tense because Junmyeon couldn't see a movie that night. Then again, Baekhyun often took things to heart when it came to their leader. 

"Yeah, well, I'll make it up to him. I know that for sure." Junmyeon sighs before leaving the room as well. Jongin and Chanyeol exchange looks with each other, the older shrugging his shoulders. "You know how Baekhyun is. He admires Junmyeon a lot. To be honest, I think he's more upset about not getting his alone time with Junmyeon than he is about missing the movie. Honestly, he's not even into Star Wars that much." Chanyeol snorts and Jongin laughs quietly. 

"Jealous that your best friend is chasing after someone else?" Jongin teases lightly, wiggling his eyebrows before laughing loudly when he dodges a playful hit from the other. 

"You wish. I know that Baekhyun still likes me more. Junmyeon bosses him around too much. I'm like...the cool mom." Jongin raises an eyebrow at this. "You're the cool mom? I thought Junmyeon was the cool mom. Why would Baekhyun want to be best friends with a cool mom?" Jongin's smiling so wide that his cheeks are starting to hurt, though he always got this way when bantering playfully with his older group member. 

"Shut up." He huffs after having no come back. 

 

The members are spread throughout the dorms in search for a seventh camera in pairs of three. Kyungsoo, Jongdae, and Sehun were searching the bathrooms, Yixing, Luhan, and Jongin were in charge of looking through the bedrooms, and Chanyeol, Junmyeon, and Minseok were searching the kitchen and living area. "I can't help but feel like it's in plain sight and we're just idiots." Minseok comments while Junmyeon practically tears the refrigerator apart. 

"I like to think that we're smarter than that." Junmyeon mumbles as Chanyeol empties the cabinets of all the dishes and boxed and canned foods. "I just wish it would jump out and bite us in the faces. I'm getting so tired of searching the entire place for a camera that might be smaller than my index finger." Minseok nods in agreement while checking each and every dish he pulls out. "Do you think the others are having any luck?" 

"I hope so." Junmyeon sighs before finishing the search through the fridge. "Nothing in here. Checked all the foods and bottles in here. Couldn't find anything that would indicate a camera. I'm going to start looking through the living room so we can get more ground covered in a quicker timeframe. Call out to me if you find anything." Junmyeon's out of the kitchen within the next few seconds, sounds of him rummaging through the sofa cushions heard. Minseok glances over at Chanyeol before clearing his throat quietly. 

"How are you feeling, Yeol?" Chanyeol only glances at him before grunting in response. It's all he offers and he says nothing more, Minseok debating whether or not he should drop the subject. He frowns slightly when remembering how upset Jongin was the other night about Chanyeol and ultimately decides to keep up with the topic. While Jongin was soft hearted and worried easily over his friends and family, Minseok figured he had good reason to. He didn't worry over trivial things. If he knew something was bothering someone then it bothered him as well. "Chanyeol, we can talk about whatever it is that you're going through. Chances are that we're all going through it." Chanyeol ignores him though, or at least that's what it seems to him. His eyes narrow slightly, though he shakes his head while searching through the bowls he's stacked on the counter in front of him. "You know we're all trying our best to get answers."

Once again, Chanyeol says nothing, not even sparing him a single glance. He sighs softly before scrunching up his nose. "Chanyeol?" He scoots over closer to the taller male, a mischievous smile forming on his lips when an idea pops into his head. "Kiss me?"

Chanyeol chokes at this, whipping his head around while staring at the shorter with wide eyes. "I beg your pardon?" He manages to squeeze out. "In this situation? Isn't that inappropriate?" 

Minseok raises an eyebrow at his response. "Relax, I'm kidding. But that was your biggest concern? You're honestly so weird." He scoffs quietly. "I wanted your attention and I got it. Now talk." He jabs him playfully in the side. "It's very clear that you're upset over everything that's going on."

"No shit-" Minseok immediately sends him a look that warns him to watch his mouth. "Sorry." He quickly covers his ass. "I just feel like we aren't getting anywhere no matter what we do. We get one answer and then another three questions pop up. I feel like whenever we start to figure things out or head on the right path, we end up completely losing all progress and where we are. I feel like we're never going to find Baekhyun at this point. It's more likely that he'll show up at our front door before then." He lets out a frustrated sigh and runs a hand through his hair. He stares down at the counter with such an intensity behind his eyes that Minseok can't help but look away. 

"Chanyeol..." He sighs quietly and continues to sort through the dishes. "I know that things seem helpless right now, but I believe we're on the right track. This is the most we've known since he went missing. That's a good thing at least, right? We know that there's a person behind this, we know he didn't just run away on his own. We just have to figure out who and why." 

"I guess." Chanyeol mumbles quietly. "I don't- maybe we'll find something soon." He laughs quietly when he finishes going through his items. "Nothing here. Shocker." He slams a can of food on the counter before leaving the kitchen to join Junmyeon in the living room. 

 

"Baekhyun, what's up?" Yifan asks when picking up the phone. It was late and he most certainly wasn't expecting a call from the other at this hour. He had just gotten back to his hotel room and he was unsure if Baekhyun's staff and management knew that he still had his contact information. 

"That- that fucker did this to me." His breathing is heavy and the younger's voice sounds hoarse as if he had spent the last few hours screaming. "Have you seen it? _Have you fucking seen it?_ " He shouts and Yifan flinches. He wasn't sure what he was talking about as he had been busy filming for a movie the entire day. 

"Have I seen what?"

"You must have seen it. It became a fucking international scandal." He laughs at this, though there's no humor behind it. Baekhyun lets out a shaky sigh in attempt to compose himself, rubbing his fingers against his forehead in a frustrated manner. "Wait, here. Let me read you this one." He scoffs as he pulls up one of the endless articles on his phone. "EXO's Lead Vocalist Turns Out to Be Gay." Yifan furrows his eyebrows in confusion. He didn't understand what was happening; even if Baekhyun were gay, how would people know? "This one is my favorite: Closeted Gay Member Byun Baekhyun of EXO Gets Exposed for Being Gay. I'm not sure how many times they can use the word 'gay' in an article title but you get them clicks, _boy_." His voice was heavily laced with sarcasm as he runs a hand over his face, pulling his features down slightly. 

Before Yifan can even question the man on the other line, Baekhyun speaks up. "Byun Baekhyun of EXO Caught Leaving the Apartment of a Man at 3AM. Did I mention that my hair was a mess and I was buttoning up my shirt too?" A sigh leaves Yifan as everything starts to click together.

"Do you know how you got, um..."

"Exposed?" He deadpans. "Yeah. I know exactly how I got exposed. The guy I slept with did it. Did I mention he took pictures of me asleep in his bed? He sold them to AllKpop. I'm going to fucking sue them, by the way. They think they can release pictures of me like that without any consequences? Oh, I'll show them." Yifan's never heard Baekhyun so angry before, though he had every right to be. He was practically fuming through the phone to the point where he was concerned that steam would start to seep through the speakers. "And for that bastard- that _motherfucker!_ " He's swearing loudly and Yifan stays quiet, letting the younger get everything off his chest in order to vent. "I was nice to him, Yifan. I was so nice to him."

"What do you mean? The guy whose apartment you left?" He scratches the side of his head as he sits down on the side of his bed, his shoulders tense as he listens to the rambling man. 

"Yes! Keep up, Yifan." There's a hint of playfulness to his voice that makes him smile slightly. "My bad." He chuckles quietly. "Just want to be on the same page."

"I don't have time for relationships; you know this." Baekhyun's pacing around his room as he ignores the banging on the other side of his bedroom door, the door locked. It was probably his manager who was ready to bite his head off and throw him into a blender. The scandal had happened earlier that day and he had yet to address his members or manager about the issue. None of them even knew he was gay with the exception of Sehun, Yixing, Chanyeol, and Jongdae. He was sure Junmyeon wouldn't be happy, though he knew none of his members were homophobic. More so they would just be mad for him jeopardizing their image. Not that he would blame them; they've all worked so hard to get to where they are now. And for what? For Baekhyun to ruin it by sleeping with a man who wasn't even worth his breath? 

"So you were just sleeping with the guy then, right? Was it just once?" There was a long silence on the other side and Yifan sighs softly. "Baekhyun, was it just once?"

"No." The other admits after a minute. "It was more than once. Six times, if you want me to be honest." He purses his lips as he glances at the door, Yongmin yelling from the other side. 

"Alright...wow." He's trying to think of the right words to say so he doesn't come across as offensive. "Did the guy know you didn't want a relationship?"

"Yes! We both went into this stating that there were no strings attached. I didn't want a relationship and he said he didn't want one either. I just don't have time for a relationship. I can't tie down with someone yet, and," his voice lowers as he continues, "I don't want to settle down with someone that I used to only know as a booty call. Same for him. He has higher standards; he just won't admit it." 

"There's nothing wrong with that." Yifan says softly. "You're allowed to want other things-"

"I was so nice to him, Kris. When I told him, when I told him that I didn't want to do this anymore...I was so gentle. I knew how he could be when it came to rejection. He's gentle, you know?" His voice is soft and he speaks with such a kindness that Yifan thinks Baekhyun might be afraid of hurting him just by talking to him on the phone about him. "I found out he had feelings for me. He let it slip while we were having sex." Baekhyun cringes slightly at the memory. "He said he loved me. You know, I tried to ignore it but I just couldn't. He told me it just slipped out and he meant nothing by it. But I could tell he was lying, you know? You can just tell with those kind of things."

"I understand." Yifan really was shit when it came to giving advice and being there emotionally for someone, but what was he to say in this situation? This is probably why none of the members ever gossiped with him when he was still in EXO. "You're a sweet person. I'm not surprised that you were gentle with letting him down. You aren't the type of person to be rude about it."

Baekhyun smiles softly from his words. "Thank you, Kris. But I told him that we shouldn't talk anymore. You know? I just thought that it wouldn't be fair on him to stay in his life. How is someone supposed to get over you if you don't give them the space they need? People are blinded by love. They ignore what's good for them. He would have never left me willingly." He rolls his eyes when the banging grows louder, Yongmin threatening to kick in the door while Junmyeon tries to coax him out of the room. 

"Busy house, huh?" Yifan jokes lamely. 

"You're telling me." He sighs. Yifan looks around his large hotel room, feeling a stinging at his heart when realizing how lonely and empty it was. At least Baekhyun still had people living under the same roof with him. That was his favorite part about being in a band; having everyone living together under one roof, even if it grew hectic every now and then. It beat spending most nights alone with no one to talk to. "Anyway," Baekhyun's voice brings him back down to reality and out of the past, "he didn't take it well. At all. He was screaming at me, throwing his dishes at me for Christ sake." He swears under his breath quietly before hurrying across his room and grabbing a chair, shoving it underneath the doorknob. 

"You okay there?" Yifan asks after hearing him swear and pant for the last minute and a half.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just trying to keep an angry manager out of my room until I at least get off the phone with you." Yifan can't help but laugh at this. "You're seriously crazy, Baek. Yongmin is seriously going to flip his shit if you keep fucking around like that."

"Yeah, well, his problem." _Also yours_ , is what Yifan wants to say but he decides to stay silent. "Anyway, he was pissed. I have no doubt that he was the one that leaked everything. The night I was leaving his apartment was the night I broke things off with him. It's why I looked like such a mess. He just, he just can't let it go, Kris. I don't really know what I'm going to do. I'm suing of course, but not him. He doesn't have much money; there's just not really a point in it. God, Kris I'm so fucked. I can't believe he leaked it. I can't believe everyone knows now. I never planned on coming out, you know. At least not any time soon and now I have to deal with all of the world laughing as they watch me fail. I feel like this is every anti's wet dream." Yifan can't help but to laugh at the last part. "Maybe you're right." He says after composing himself. "But your true fans will learn to look past this scandal. You aren't the first idol to get caught having sex and you certainly won't be the last. Just think of being gay as putting a little twist to it?" He wasn't sure if he just said something offensive.

"Thanks." He snorts. "Anyway, I have to go. I think Yongmin might kill me if I don't open the door in the next five minutes. If you don't hear from me again or you see me on the news for being murdered, it was him." Yifan has no idea how Baekhyun can laugh in this situation, but he keeps his tongue pressed to his cheek. "Bye, Kris. Talk to you later. Be safe, you giant idiot. Remember not to sleep with anyone, even if you think they're really cute. They're a trap." He playfully warns before hanging up the phone, leaving a speechless Yifan staring at his phone.

 

Sehun watches as Jongdae and Kyungsoo examine every shampoo bottle they come across. "Think Minseok will be pissed if we ruin his hair gel?" Jongdae asks with a mischievous grin.

"Please focus." Kyungsoo deadpans while dumping the soap into the bath. "We're going to have to buy so many new bottles of shampoo." He sighs quietly. "But it's the only way to make sure there's no cameras inside." Sehun's in charge or searching through the medicine cabinets in case there had been anything they had missed the last time they were in the bathroom. "Do you really think we'll find another camera in the bathroom? Seems like kinda a reach..." 

"We found three in your and Jongin's room. I don't think it's a reach at all." Kyungsoo hums while dumping a bottle into the trash. "This person, we don't know how they think at all. I wouldn't be surprised at this point." He says gently. "Sehun, are you alright?" He's startled by the sudden question and he looks at the other with wide doe eyes. "I'm fine." He quickly answers. "What Chanyeol said is alright. He was upset and I got over it."

"I'm talking about the nightmares you've been having." 

"Oh." He purses his lips slightly while dumping a bottle of pills out. "I only had the one. I haven't had one since."

"Because you haven't been sleeping." He counters.

"Not true." He scrunches his nose from Kyungsoo's comment. "Soo, I'll tell you if I have anymore, but as of now it's only been the one." He smiles faintly from the concern the other was showing, his cheeks turning a light shade of red. "Thank you, Kyungsoo." He whispers it faintly, though based off the smile on Kyungsoo's lips it was heard loud and clear. 

 

"This is becoming frustrating." Luhan groans after the fifth hour of ransacking the bedrooms. "Where the fuck would they keep an extra camera? If I were an insane lunatic," he purses his lips while furrowing his eyebrows in thought, "where would I keep a camera?" This was all feeling oddly familiar to him and he couldn't fight off the shiver that shot up his spine. "Well, I'm not a fucking lunatic so it's hard to think like one." Jongin snorts at this, flipping over Jongdae's mattress to look underneath it. It looked normal; nothing out of the ordinary. There wasn't anything there that shouldn't be, much like the rest of his and Junmyeon's shared room. 

"Well, I'm sure you could ask Junmyeon for some clues." Yixing answers nonchalantly. Luhan glares at him briefly before searching through their closet. "I'll pass. He won't say anything that I wouldn't say." 

"How can you be so sure of that?" Jongin rolls his eyes as he tunes out the bickering between Yixing and Luhan, though it was nothing as intense as Luhan and Junmyeon's bickering. He wasn't sure what happened between the pair back in China, but it was weird for Jongin to see his leader so angry about something, especially from another member; former or not. He had no idea where the camera could be. They had already checked Yixing and Kyungsoo's room, Chanyeol and Minseok's, and now Jongdae and Junmyeon's. He still had his own room to check, though he doubted he would come up with anything since they had already found three of the previous cameras in their room. Of course, it turned out that it filmed more of Sehun and Baekhyun than it did him, and it also turned out that the intruder only took Baekhyun's stuff and ignored his. That brought him some comfort, though he was still mostly uncomfortable. 

"We've been searching their room for the last hour. I think we can move on to Sehun and Jongin's now, Yixing." Luhan tosses a pair of Junmyeon's pants onto the floor, Yixing sighing and picking it up, neatly placing it on the bed. "You and Junmyeon need to make up. You're both going to get too distracted. Tonight you're both talking alone. Don't complain." He quickly adds as soon as he hears Luhan start to whine. "I don't care if you don't want to. You need to." 

Jongin trails after Yixing and Luhan as they walk into the living room, smiling brightly at Chanyeol when seeing him searching by Minseok's side. "Have you found anything yet?" He asks as he immediately flocks over to his side. "We still haven't found anything yet, but I think we're getting closer." Jongin had no idea if they were actually any closer, but he wanted to stay optimistic for the sake of Chanyeol. 

"You think so?" Chanyeol asks while looking back at the other. He nods his head while Minseok looks through the couch cushions, Chanyeol having checked the television and pictures hanging on the wall earlier. "I do." He hums, offering him a small smile. 

"Jongin, come on!" Luhan calls out, snapping the younger out of his daze. "See you later, Yeol." He hums before quickly hurrying after the two. 

"That kid is so weird sometimes." Minseok mutters while flopping down onto the couch. "Chanyeol, I'm going to be honest with you, I have no idea where this seventh camera could be." 

"Me too." He groans while throwing himself next to him on the couch. "Do you think it's in someone's room? Maybe it's not in the living room or kitchen like we thought." Minseok only shrugs in response. "No idea." He replies quietly. "Junmyeon couldn't find anything in either room too." Chanyeol only lets out a long sigh, shaking his head after. 

"Maybe I could run out and pick up dinner for us or something." Junmyeon says while scrolling through his phone. "No one's going to be motivated if they continue looking on empty stomachs. They'll end up more frustrated than anything else."

"You can take my car!" Jongin calls out from his room. Junmyeon laughs quietly and shakes his head. "He's too helpful." 

"Take his car for what? Why are you taking Jongin's car?" Yixing asks as he drags Luhan and Jongin out of the bedroom and into the living room. 

"I'm going to pick up food for everyone. We can't keep looking on empty stomachs. It just won't work out well for us. We'll get distracted and start half-assing our search." Junmyeon repeats while disappearing into his room to grab his bag. "Does anyone want to go with me?" He calls out from his room, fishing around for his wallet. "I can't carry all the food alone."

"I will." Kyungsoo says with a soft smile, though Yixing nudges him in the side. "What?" He whispers with a raised eyebrow.

"You don't need to go with him. Luhan can go with him." He says with a tight-lipped smile. "No need to sacrifice your precious time, Soo. It's not needed." Kyungsoo appears to be confused though, as if he wasn't sure what Yixing was trying to say. "No, really, it's okay. I don't mind." Kyungsoo says while slipping his shoes on.

"Kyungsoo." This might be the first and only time Kyungsoo's ever seen Yixing glare at him. "Let. Luhan. Go." His smile is sickingly sweet and Kyungsoo decides that if he knows what's best he'll nod along.

"I don't think that'll be necessary." Junmyeon rubs his hands together nervously while glancing at Luhan, the older male looking elsewhere. 

"I think it is. You and Luhan will bring us back food and during the trip you'll talk over your differences since you're growing distracted from the problem at hand. I don't want you two back until you make up."

"But Yixing!" Jongin whines as he latches onto his arm. "What if they don't make up? Will we not get food?"

"I'll make everyone food if they don't make up." He mumbles while patting the younger on the back. "Now go." He hisses before Luhan and Junmyeon can protest against him. 

 

It's silent as Junmyeon drives in the direction of a market, Jongin demanding that they buy fried chicken and then managing to talk to remaining members into the idea. Neither man knew what to say and neither man wanted to say anything at that. The radio is faintly playing a song in the background, though Junmyeon didn't care much to figure out what it was. "They only wanted fried chicken, right? Should we buy drinks too? Like soda or something." Luhan shrugs, clearly uninterested in the conversation or Junmyeon's attempts to be civil. He rolls his eyes at this, grumbling to himself as he turns left at a light. "Look, you could at least try. You heard what Yixing said back there. He doesn't want us coming back until we make up."

"You take him too seriously." He scoffs quietly. 

"How would you know? It's not like you stuck around long enough to learn more about him." Junmyeon can feel himself growing frustrated and he quickly calms himself down before things escalate. "Look, Yixing's right. We're getting distracted from the issue at hand. We can't fight with each other while looking for Baekhyun. It just won't work out." 

"You're the one who kept trying to fight with me." 

"Luhan, I don't want to get into this. Can we just forget what happened in China? We need to focus on Baekhyun and the fact that there's a seventh camera somewhere in the dorms that we can't find." He turns slightly to face Luhan once he's at a red light. "Luhan, we don't need to be friends. We don't even technically need to make up. We just need to put our feelings aside. That's all I'm asking." 

"No, no. I see what you're doing and I'm not okay with it." Annoyance is dripping heavily from Luhan's voice as he glares at Junmyeon. "Why do you get to be the good guy? You don't get to start the fight with me and then be the good guy that solves it."

"Luhan, I'm not trying to be a good guy and I'm not trying to do anything." Junmyeon feels like slamming his head against the steering wheel. Things were really going nowhere. "I'm just asking that we set our feelings aside for now. After we figure everything out we can go back to arguing." 

"That's not what- why are you like this? God, I just don't understand you!" Luhan slams his head back on his seat, laughing in disbelief. "Were you always such an arrogant asshole?"

"I beg your pardon?" Junmyeon slams on the brakes as he turns to look at the other, Luhan jerking forward from the sudden motion. "I'm being the arrogant asshole? And what exactly are you right now? A saint?"

"Junmyeon, drive the fucking car. You're going to get us killed!" Luhan shouts angrily. Junmyeon slams on the gas, enjoying the panicked shriek from him before pulling off to the side of the road. He turns on parking, unbuckling himself so he can truly face his former group member. "What the fuck is your problem, Luhan? The only reason we even fought in the first place is because you were being irresponsible and wouldn't own up to it. Instead, you threw in how I'm the reason Baekhyun's missing. You couldn't just apologize or calmly explain what you were even out there doing in the first place. Instead you brushed me off as if I wasn't worth your breath. That's what pissed me off and the fact that you're acting the same way is real reassuring." 

"Because you're too aggressive; you're too up front. All you want to do is constantly boss others around. I know that you're used to the leader role but you can take a break on it every now and then. It won't kill you, Junmyeon." 

"Luhan, what the hell is going on in that brain of yours? What gives you the right to say any of this to me? You need to pull your head out of your ass before I do it for you." 

Luhan raises an eyebrow at this, sitting up straighter as he takes off his seatbelt. "And what is that supposed to mean? Are you threatening me? Do you not remember what happened last time? I'll break your nose this time, Junmyeon."

"I think you know exactly what that's supposed to mean. Luhan, you'd better-" 

"Junmyeon, shut up." Luhan quickly interrupts him. Junmyeon pulls a face at this, having not been ready to be cut off so suddenly. 

"No. You listen here-"

"Junmyeon, seriously. I need you to shut up for a second, buddy." Luhan waves a hand as if to shush him before placing his index finger to his lips. "You don't hear that?" Junmyeon pauses, though still feeling heated towards the other. "Hear what?" The pair just sit in silence for a second while Luhan wears a focused expression, Junmyeon showing a confused one. He had no idea what they were supposed to be listening for. 

There, in the background was a soft buzzing sound. "Is that Jongin's air vents? Do they always buzz like that? He might need to take his car to a shop." Junmyeon comments when finally hearing the noise. He wasn't sure why Luhan was so caught up on it though.

"No, no. I heard that noise in Baekhyun's room whenever I was in there. When we were searching for cameras the first time I heard the buzzing, though he said it started one day out of the blue. Junmyeon, do you think...?" Luhan's staring at him with wide eyes, desperately searching his face for any sign of confirmation. 

"Lu, what are you saying?" 

"Yeon said that footage started in 2014, which is when Baekhyun and I searched his room for cameras. In 2013 there was no buzzing in his dorm room. She said that the cameras were deactivated around 2018. Have you noticed that there's no longer a buzzing sound in Baekhyun's old room? The room that Sehun and Jongin are staying in. Even Baekhyun used to comment how he couldn't fall asleep because of the faint buzzing sound, but Jongin said it never bothered him. If the intruder were to plant a camera somewhere, wouldn't it make sense that he puts it in someone's car that isn't bothered by cameras? I mean, he isn't bothered by the sound so he wouldn't think anything of it. He thought the buzzing in their room was from the ceiling fan, and it's not like we made the connections about the cameras and the buzzing until now." Junmyeon's eyes are slowly widening as he listens to Luhan.

"Which means he probably just thought the noise was coming from his air vents or something." He adds to Luhan's theory. "The intruder put a fucking camera in Jongin's car? Why? He didn't take his things! It's not like he's the only member with a car, and Jongin is normally the only person in his car- Luhan." His voice holds urgency as he stares at the other in terror. "Jongin is the second member that they wanted. I don't know why, but it's the only reasoning I can come up with. Why else is there an active camera in his car? We need to get back home-"

"We need to take this camera out before we go anywhere and then call Yeon immediately after." Luhan doesn't wait another second before wrapping his fingers around the vent and pulling at it roughly. Jongin would certainly kill him for destorying his precious car, but if it meant finding a hidden camera in there then it was worth it. He knew there was a way to properly remove an air vent, but they didn't have the time for that. "Luhan, I'm not quite sure how effective that is." Junmyeon mumbles before flinching when it snaps off. 

"I'll pay to have it fixed." He mumbles before peering inside the dark hole.

"Do you see anything?" Junmyeon asks as he leans over to see over Luhan's shoulder. He was getting anxious from how quiet he was.

"Too dark. Hand me your phone? I can use the flashlight and then I might be able to see where the little fucker's at." Junmyeon immediately digs his phone out of his pocket, unlocking it and turning on the light. He hands the phone to Luhan afterwards who eagerly takes it and shines it in the now empty vent. A few seconds of silence pass as Luhan looks in before tsking quietly before speaking the words that Junmyeon dreaded to hear. "There's definitely a camera in here." He moves the phone over slightly so he can slip his hand inside, wrapping his fingers around the device before yanking it out with one brief movement, the wires danglingly loosely as he holds the now inactive camera in his hand. 

"It's around the same size as the ones we found in the dorms." Junmyeon comments while they both stare down at it while putting his seatbelt back on and starting up the car. We need to get back home to tell Jongin and the others."

 


	13. Hell is where I dreamt of you

Chanyeol's staring down at his trembling hands,  cold sweat breaking out over his already damp skin. Furrowing his eyebrows, Chanyeol curled into himself, a desperate try to keep himself away from everybody. His heart was racing in his chest as he tries to bring himself down from his high. He didn't know what to do and he wanted to cry out for Jongin or Kyungsoo, but all the words he had in his mind were stuck in the back of his throat that refused to tumble out.  He wasn't where he was supposed to be. He can recall the chain of events perfectly. He went back into his room once Junmyeon and Luhan left to pick up food, closed his door, and took a nap. He didn't feel like socializing (though to be fair he didn't feel like doing that often now) and just wanted to be left alone. He considered letting Jongin keep him some company when he knocked on his door, though he decided he could do with some much needed alone time. He fell asleep to Jongin's soft knocks in the background. That was it. That is until he woke up to a sudden crash in his room.   
  
But it's not his room. He can barely see his hands when he holds them in front of his face due to his dark and cold surroundings . He's not sure how he got here; he was pretty certain if it had been a case of sleepwalking that his members would have stopped him from leaving the dorms. Does that mean someone snuck into his room and took him? Was he drugged? How would any of this be possible in the middle of the day? Unless, that is, he slept through the day and into the night and his members let him be out of courtesy. What time was it anyway? It's not like he'd be able to tell in the dark. He feels around his wrist. His watch was gone. A scoff leaves him at the thought of someone stealing his watch. "What's wrong with you?" He scolds himself silently. "Your watch should be the least of your problems right now." He pushes himself to sit up though immediately drops back down to the ground when feeling a searing pain shoot throughout his ankle. Was it broken? He leans forward and gently rubs at the skin around his ankle, hissing quietly when massaging the swollen skin. If it wasn't broken then it was at least sprained. At least he didn't feel any bone sticking out or open wounds.    
  
Chanyeol persisted, he needed to get up. He sticks his arms out in hopes of touching a wall with at least one hand. He's startled when he feels his hand hit something, though after a few seconds of examination he discovers it's a wall. He leans his weight against the wall and pushes himself to his feet, heavy breaths leaving him as he tries to keep himself from getting dizzy. Should he call out to someone? That might get him killed. His eyes have somewhat adjusted to the darkness, only being able to see faint outlines of the walls and possibly a door. He cautiously walks forward, eyes narrowed as he tries to see more of the room he's in. There's an odd outline in the far corner of the room and he's not entirely sure what it is, though it doesn't exactly give him good vibes. Something draws him towards it regardless and he can feel his feet moving on their own as if they had a mind of their own. "H-Hello?" He couldn't help it; he needed to see if it was something that would respond to him, good or not. As he got closer to the outline the more humanistic it appeared to be. It was smaller than he was, but that didn't mean that it couldn't pose a threat to him. Clearly someone put him here. He reaches out to touch the figure in front of him, his fingertips having barely brushed against it as it jolts away from him.    
  
"Hey-" A blue light flickers above him that makes his eyes hurt at first having adjusted to the darkness around him. His eyes widen when seeing the figure in front of him, all the words that he had rehearsed in his head for this moment have seemingly vanished. His ankle gives out on him as he goes to take a step back, collapsing onto the floor instead. He wanted to run away in that moment, something that shocked him as he thought he would have wanted to run forward and engulf the other in his arms. "Chanyeol," it's Baekhyun, looking alive and very healthy, "why are you trying to run away from me?" His hand is reaching out for him and a choked sob leaves Chanyeol. Was this really him? Was this really happening? He grabs onto his hand tightly, Baekhyun pulling him to his feet. "You're hurt." He gestures to his swollen ankle. God, his voice. It sounds just like him; Chanyeol nearly forgot what it even sounded like it's been so long.    
  
"Where are we? How did I get here? How are you- how did you- you're alive." He breathes out and wraps his arms around the shorter male tightly. "What happened to you? We need to get you back home; Junmyeon's going to be so happy. Everyone's going to be so happy, Baekhyun!" He's practically shouting out of excitement as he pulls away from the other, a bight, wide smile on his lips. Baekhyun's eyebrows are only furrowed in response before slowly shaking his head. "What? What do you mean by that? Why are you shaking your head?"    
  
"I can't leave. I'm bound to this place; it's my home." With each step Baekhyun takes back, Chanyeol takes another two steps forward until Baekhyun's backed against a wall. "What are you talking about?" He quickly looks over the other, frowning when seeing that there weren't any chains on him. "Why can't you leave? I'll bust in the person's face who took you here. If you're scared that they'll keep you from leaving then just leave them to me. I won't let anyone hurt you anymore, Baek. I promise you that."    
  
"You almost sound convincing." The other whispers gently. "I almost believe your words." He lets out a soft sigh as he cups Chanyeol's cheeks, his thumbs carefully caressing his skin. Chanyeol's leaning into his touch, his eyes fluttering shut before his words sink into his skin. "What do you mean? Why don't you believe me? I swear I'll get you out of here."   
  
"Ah, Chanyeol," there's a sadness to his voice as he cradles the taller man in his hands, "I can't. I'm a part of this place. I can't leave."    
  
"I can get you out of here." He argues stubbornly.    
  
"No, Chanyeol. You aren't listening to me." His voice is so soft and gentle, yet it makes his words sting Chanyeol's heart even more.    
  
"No, you aren't listening to me!" His voice cracks and trembles as he speaks while Baekhyun's eyes bore into him. "I'm bringing you back home, do you understand me? You aren't a part of this stupid place. I won't let you. I'm going to bring you home and everyone's going to know who did this to you. I'm going to make people care, okay? You're coming back!" Baekhyun only nods his head at this, thumb gently wiping the tears from the corners of Chanyeol's eyes.    
  
"How did I get so lucky to have you in my life?" He looks at Chanyeol with a loving look as he speaks, a faint smile on his lips. "You need to go now, love." Chanyeol shakes his head quickly and buries his face into the side of his neck, clinging onto his longtime friend. "Chanyeol, you need to leave. They need you. I'll be alright."   
  
"I'm not leaving you, Baekhyun! You need me more, don't you see that? I think anyone can agree right now that you need me more. I'm not leaving you, stop-"   
  
"Chanyeol, we'll meet each other again, alright?" He's starting to fade away, in fact the entire room around him is starting to fade away.    
  
"Baekhyun, no! Don't leave me!" He's screaming as everything around him turns to white, the older man standing in front of him. A smile is still gracing his lips and Chanyeol can feel his heart shattering into tiny pieces. How can he stop this from hurting so much? He feels his feet moving on their own once again and he starts to pick up the pace, running towards the vocalist. He's shouting his name, his hand grasping at thin air when he reaches out to take his hand.    
  
  
  
"NO!" Chanyeol screams when jolting awake in bed. A thick layer of sweat covers him as he sits up in the middle of his bed, his sheets half on the bed and half on the floor. He's breathing heavily as his eyes water upon realization that everything had been a dream. He never found Baekhyun, he never heard his voice, and he was never closer to discovering what happened to him. He feels anger bubbling up in his chest as he looks around the room wildly, trying to figure out what he was going to do. He screams instead, which wasn't what he was planning on doing but he didn't care. He grabs a fistful of his sheets, tossing them across the room in frustration. "Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck fuck, FUCK!" He grabs the clock on his nightstand and throws it at the wall, watching as all the pieces shatter once it made contact with the wall, the plastic pieces dancing on the tiling of the floor.    
  
A choked sob leaves him as he grabs more things he can get a hold of, clothes, shoes, pictures, and slamming it against the wall or against the floor. Why was this happening? Why couldn't this happen to someone else in the world? Why did it have to happen to his best friend? He didn't deserve this; Baekhyun never deserved anything bad thrown his way. He's breathing heavily as he stands in the middle of his now trashed room, broken objects and clothes scattered across the floor. It looked like a hurricane hit his room and his room only. He knots his fingers in his hair as he lets out a frustrated scream, hot tears starting to stream down his red cheeks as he lets the walls around him fall apart.    
  
His head was pounding and his heart was racing, to the point where  his chest was beginning to ache. He just couldn't take it; he didn't know what he was supposed to do. Everything seemed just out of his reach and beyond his capabilities. His vision was starting to blur and the room around him was beginning to spin. He tries to take a step forward, though he ends up stepping on something sharp and stumbles backwards and tripping over his own two feet. His body hits the ground like a pile of bricks and for a second he felt as if his soul actually left his body. Everything was aching and he was beginning to panic. His hand grips onto the side of his bed, his knuckles turning white from how hard he was trying to pull his body up and off the floor. His knees give in on him and he slumps back onto the floor, an exhausted cry leaving him. Everything just felt so out of his control that it was starting to drive him insane. What was the point of anything if he had to live a life like this? What was the point in living if he couldn't be with Baekhyun? He decides to stop fighting against his situation when the room around him starts to fade into black.    
  
  
  
Junmyeon and Luhan nearly slam the front door open, Yixing standing from the couch when seeing the two of them without food and holding a part of...Jongin's car in their hands? "Where were you guys and where's the food?" Yixing asks with a raised eyebrow.    
  
"Did you not get our calls? We've been calling you for thirty minutes straight. Chanyeol's been straight up breaking everything in our room and he's refusing to speak to anyone." Minseok scolds the two."Do either of you know how to calm him down?" Junmyeon feels his eyebrow twitch due to nerves. He really needed to tell everyone about the camera in Jongin's car, but at the same time he couldn't have one of his members on the verge of a complete breakdown. "Is he still in his room?" Junmyeon asks with an exhausted voice. Minseok and Yixing nod their heads, as well as the other members in the room. "Wait for me out here." He excuses himself before heading down the hallway, gently knocking on Chanyeol and Minseok's door. His knuckles whiten as he grips onto the door knob of his door, trying to twist it open though the lock resists his attempts. He must have locked the door.    
  
"Chanyeol? Chanyeol, I know you're in there." His voice is soft and airy and he doesn't want Chanyeol think that he's going to go into this scolding him. Chanyeol's been struggling and dealing with everything in his own way and he didn't want him feeling like he wasn't allowed to cope. Yes, sometimes he was rude to the people around him, but everyone constantly dismissing him or snapping at him surely wasn't helping. Junmyeon sort of feels like that he might be to blame as he wasn't around as much as he would have liked. "Chanyeol, I just want to talk." He's never yelled at Chanyeol for coping, even when Jongdae called when he was back in China to talk about Sehun. Did he have a stern talking to with the taller boy? Of course, but he never yelled at him. He didn't feel that things had escalated to a point where that would be necessary. He sighs softly when Chanyeol doesn't offer him a response. This was becoming typical of the other, that was for sure. He was becoming more reserved and to himself, only occasionally telling Jongin how he was feeling. He should really propose group therapy to their manager later; that might help them out a bit.    
  
His attention is pulled from his thoughts when he hears what sounds like -panting?- from the other side of the door. "Yeol?" He calls out slowly. "Are you alright in there?" There's only silence alongside what he believes to be panting and he can feel himself start to become panicked. He didn't have a key or anything to bedrooms, so the only way to get into his room would be by kicking down the door. That seemed a little aggressive and the manager might murder him for it, but Junmyeon decided he would deal with those consequences later. He takes a few steps back from the door before sending a swift and hard kick to the wood above the door knob, the door creaking under the stress and pressure of his foot. By the time Junmyeon kicks the door in he's gathered the attention of the other men in the house, Jongin frantically hurrying down the hall with Kyungsoo and Minseok not too far behind him.    
  
"What are you doing?" He asks when Junmyeon forces himself into the dark bedroom. "Is Chanyeol okay?" Junmyeon has to ignore the several questions the men are throwing at him as he looks around the dark room for any sign of the other.    
  
"Chanyeol?" Junmyeon calls out before nearly tripping over the corner of one of the beds. He swears under his breath as his toe throbs from the contact it made with the side of the bed just as his eyes land on an outline of something curled up on the floor. "Chanyeol? Chanyeol!" He hurries over to the other's side, rolling him onto his back so he could properly look at the other. "What's wrong? What's happening? Are you okay?" He looks behind him to see Jongin lingering by the doorway, an uncertain expression on his face. "Turn on the light!" He calls over to the younger, turning back around to look at Chanyeol once the light was on.    
  
He looked to be half awake and half asleep. He's panting from shortness of breath, skin drenched with sweat as his hair sticks to his forehead and the sides of his face. Junmyeon carefully runs his fingers through the man's hair, cradling him in his arms as he tries to figure out what to do and what was happening. His lips were dry and chapped, skin sickly pale with deep and dark bags under his eyes- he looked like someone who hadn't slept or eaten in days. "Chanyeol? Chanyeol, can you hear me? When's the last time you slept? When's the last time you had an actual meal? Does anyone know?" He asks when looking back at the group standing by the door.    
  
"He just woke up from a nap before you came over and Jongin prepared him food earlier in the day." Jongdae says as he stares anxiously from his spot. He's chewing on his bottom lip as his eyes dart between Chanyeol and Junmyeon. "Should we call our manager?"    
  
"We'll bring him to the hospital first and then call." He mutters under his breath before scooping up the fragile man into his arms. Minseok and Sehun hurry over to help Junmyeon carry Chanyeol who was struggling slightly. "It will be okay," Junmyeon calls out when seeing the teary expression on Jongin's face, "Chanyeol's alright. He just needs a doctor."   
  
  
  
Luhan's sitting in the uncomfortable and small plastic chair next to Jongin as they wait out in the waiting room. Jongin's been biting at his nails nearly nonstop and if they were in any other situation Luhan would scold the other for his poor manners. "Jongin, breathe. He's fine. There's no reason to work yourself up over this when the doctor already told us what was going on." They've been at the hospital only for thirty minutes, though Junmyeon and their manager had been discussing Chanyeol's current condition for the last fifteen. The doctor had previously explained to them that Chanyeol was suffering from severe exhaustion which was beginning to interfere with his sleeping and eating schedules. She described how this could cause fatigue to Chanyeol, as well as making him weaker than usual and more irritable.    
  
"She said that if Chanyeol doesn't get enough rest or if he keeps being put in stressful situations that he could give himself a heart attack due to the chronic stress." Jongin speaks with a shaky voice, forcing himself to remember everything the doctor had stated earlier. He blinks hard and groans, rubbing his forehead soothingly before burying his face in his hands. "Chanyeol isn't going to like being told by Junmyeon that we can't keep updating him about Baekhyun and what we're finding out."   
  
"Then we don't need to tell him anything. Look, Jongin." Luhan turns to face the younger. "Chanyeol is supposed to stay for the next week so that the staff that work here can help him get back to the healthy state he needs to be in. It's too dangerous for Chanyeol to go back home; for his own sanity he needs to stay here. He won't go into cardiac arrest from stress if there's nothing here to stress him out, understand? Why don't you visit him often to keep him from getting lonely? You're the only one he's really talking to right now anyway, it might do you both some good. I can see you getting stressed out from everything too." While Luhan and Junmyeon didn't have the chance to tell anyone about the seventh camera found yet, Luhan thought this could do everyone some good. Jongin would be safer in a hospital with Chanyeol surrounded by people, potential witnesses, who would be able to put a stop to anything suspicious. It was a hospital for god's sake; the security was insane and especially because Chanyeol was there. Honestly, this might be the best outcome for the two of them until they're able to figure everything else out.    
  
"I planned on visiting him every day anyway." Jongin sighs and slumps back into his seat. "I wanted to bring him food from the dorms or from the market. Chanyeol's too picky for hospital food, he'd drive himself insane with the amount of meals the nurses would be forcing him to eat." He's picking at the ends of his sleeves while talking to Luhan. He's listening to Jongin as he speaks, but his eyes are scanning the room in search of Junmyeon. They need to at least inform Yixing about the camera so they could maybe send footage to Yeon- but did they even have time for that? Maybe they'd be able to figure things out on their own, though Luhan figured they should still ask Yeon for her advice anyway. "You don't think Junmyeon wouldn't be annoyed if I spent most of my time over here with Chanyeol? What if he needs me to do something?"   
  
Luhan's attention is pulled back to Jongin. "Junmyeon won't get annoyed. Just trust me on this." He mumbles before forcing himself to stand up, his back aching from the uncomfortable chair. "I'm going to find Junmyeon. I'll tell him that you'll be visiting, okay? Just relax." He pats the boy on the shoulder before heading over to the other side of the waiting room where Junmyeon was standing. The doctor had left not long ago as well as their manager, so Junmyeon was left to his own devices. "Junmyeon," Luhan offers an awkward but small smile nonetheless, waving slightly as he walks up, "what's up?"    
  
Junmyeon can only sigh in response. His hands are stuffed in the pockets of his pants, a tired expression on his face. "Too much. I didn't realize that Chanyeol's health was so poor. I feel like such a crappy leader right now." His lips are pursed as he gazes at the tired members who are spread out around the room. "I know that it's hard to keep track of everything that's going on, but-" Junmyeon's frustrated and he can't quite figure out how to string the proper words together to form the sentences he wants. "This is the second goddamn time where I completely failed to notice the health of one of our members. Just like Baekhyun, Chanyeol has been silently suffering and I've just been putting it on the back burner. Chanyeol could have had a heart attack. He still could."    
  
"Which is why he's staying here for the week. He'll be fine once the week is over, Junmyeon. Besides, Jongin's going to be visiting him every day to make sure that he's getting the proper food, care, and rest that he needs. Chanyeol will be in the prime of his health and shape when he's released." Luhan knows they need to discuss things urgently, but what good would it do if Junmyeon was too distraught to even think straight? "Just because you didn't notice Chanyeol's health decline doesn't mean you're an awful leader or person. Earth to Junmyeon, but you aren't the only person living under the same roof as him. This falls onto everyone too. You don't have to be the hero every time a member struggles or has a downfall. It's not always up to you to fix things."    
  
"I know, but as their leader-"   
  
"Junmyeon, you're way too hard on yourself when you don't need to be. I could have noticed his health earlier too, but I didn't. Just like Minseok could have, or even Jongdae or Sehun. Not everything bad that happens is your fault. If anything, we should be happy that we found out before he had a heart attack, even if he's stuck in the hospital for a week now." He says while pulling out his phone. "You had a lot on your plate, too, you know. You were in China with Yixing and I, in a place that you weren't familiar with and didn't speak the language. On top of that, you've been putting up with my bullshit which was unfair to you. You're doing the most, Junmyeon. You're tracking things down, you're putting in research, you're trying to put a puzzle together when we don't even have all of the pieces. In fact, you're probably putting the puzzle together in the dark. It might even be upside down-"   
  
"Thank you, Luhan." Junmyeon laughs softly when the other started to derail with his example. "I appreciate your apology." At least he thinks Luhan apologized. He wasn't really sure by the end of that. "And for your kind words."   
  
"I mean it though." Luhan's wearing a serious expression now. "You can't expect to notice everything when you're doing eight other things at once. No one here is blaming you for Chanyeol's health. No one here is blaming you for Baekhyun, either." Junmyeon freezes at the last part, his eyes watering as he swallows a dry lump in his throat. He turns to face Luhan, opening his mouth though he's becoming too choked up. "It's fine." Luhan pats his shoulder gently, checking the time on his phone. It was getting really late. "We need to get some rest, you specifically, and then we need to talk about things tomorrow once we both have positive mindsets. We need to get Yixing and Yeon involved about the seventh camera as well. We need to keep the other members out of it for now, we'll talk more about this in the morning." He whispers before their manager calls for them. Looks like Junmyeon really would have to wait until the following morning to learn more about their seventh camera.

\---

_A/N:  my man is charting at #1 so if you haven't listened to his song Like That,[here ya go](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVGAWcRqC7k). Bless your ears and stan a king. _

**_also, not sure if there will be an update in the next two weeks. i have a camping trip and a concert over the next two weekends and i have a huge group project due on the 7th as well (i feel like i have to do most of it because i'm the rookie and my partner is going into final internship). i'm not sure if i'll have time to update until after two weeks but you'll know if you see a new chapter up LOL_ **


	14. Plastic taste

Junmyeon's blankly staring at the ceiling fan above his bed, the quiet creaking of the fan serving as the only thing keeping him awake this late at night. He honestly had no idea what he was going to do about everything. He still had to tell the members about finding the camera in Jongin's car and what they were going to do about it. Junmyeon wanted to tell everyone; Luhan on the other hand only wanted to tell Yixing and Yeon. He didn't see how that was a good idea, but maybe the other was seeing something that he wasn't. What would happen if he didn't inform the other members about the camera and then something happened? That would look bad; especially if it was something that could have been preventable. He'd hear Luhan's side on things, but as leader he's already decided that he'd inform the other members (he was still unsure about informing Chanyeol though) about the camera, including Jongin. 

He sighs softly as he turns restlessly in his bed. He glances over at the digital clock on his bedside- it was ten minutes past three. He pushes himself to lie on his back as a sigh leaves him once again. "Junmyeon, your restlessness is making me restless." Jongdae grumbles from the other side of the room. "Do you need me to cuddle you?" There's a tint of playfulness to his voice and Junmyeon only rolls his eyes in response. 

"I can't sleep." He sits up and rubs at his eyes tiredly. He really wanted to sleep, his stress was just getting to the best of him though. "I have too much on my mind."

"That's nothing new." Jongdae's voice is deep and husky, indicating that he woke up not too long ago. "You've always got too much on your mind. What is it this time?" The lamp by Jongdae's bed is flipped on, his feet thumping against the wooden floor softly as he sleepily walks over to Junmyeon's bed. He sits down on the edge of the mattress, poking Junmyeon's leg lazily. "Spill." 

"Spill what?" He decides to play dumb; it might be in his best interest. 

"What's on your mind. You're shit at keeping secrets and it's clear you have one." Junmyeon only shakes his head in response, though Jongdae doesn't seem convinced. "You found the seventh camera, didn't you?" He has a shit eating grin on his face when Junmyeon starts to choke on his own spit, eyes wide as he tries to force words out of his mouth. "You're so naive thinking you can pull one by me by now. Don't you know that I, Kim Jongdae, know all?" He flips the long hair that he doesn't have, instead awkwardly waving his hand in the air by the side of his neck. 

"Right," Junmyeon states slowly, "it's complicated-"

"So you found the camera then." He scoots over so that he's sitting in the middle of the bed, his legs crossed as he stares patiently at the other with his hands rolled into fists and resting under his chin. He even bats his lashes a few times in hopes that the leader will elaborate further. "You're gross." Is all Junmyeon says as he goes to lie back down. 

"What, no- you can't sleep after telling me this information!" Jongdae whisper-shrieks. 

"I didn't tell you anything. You asked questions and then started coming up with assumptions." He deadpans.

"Your actions spoke for you." He argues as he crawls over closer. "Tell me or I'll start whining like a child."

"You mean the thing you're doing right now?" 

"Junmyeon!" 

"Alright, fine, fine." He throws a pillow at the younger instead, burying his face further into his own pillow. Couldn't he just leave him alone and let him rest? He feels himself roll his eyes as the sheets next to him begin to lift, Jongdae wiggling himself underneath Junmyeon's sheets. "Spill." He says, placing the pillow that Junmyeon threw at him and resting his head on it. "If you don't spill," he wiggles his index finger in Junmyeon's face, "I'll be forced to poke your nose."

"Is that your way of threatening me? You'd be the worst villain in a movie."

"I take full offense to that."

"Jongdae, I can't tell you-" He's cut off when Jongdae abruptly pokes his nose with his index finger. "You remember Yixing's friend, Yeon?" Jongdae nods his head eagerly; he knew his method of torture would work. "Luhan called her earlier tonight and she's flying own tomorrow. She's going to take a look at it before we decide to say anything. We're going to show the members the footage regardless, but seeing it first might help us explain things to them and how to go about the situation and-"

"That's a terrible idea." Jongdae deadpans.

"Excuse me?" His eyes narrow and he lightly kicks his foot into Jongdae's knee. The other doesn't flinch though, and he continues to keep his stance. "It's a bad idea. The members will be pissed that you hid it from them, invited Yeon down, watched the footage, and then decide to tell them. You have to watch together with everyone present- maybe excluding Chanyeol." He notices the look Junmyeon's giving him and decides to explain further. "This whole thing is built off trust, Junmyeon. If they find out you, Luhan, Yixing, and someone who isn't even in the group watched it before saying anything you will break that existing trust. It doesn't matter if you did it with good intentions, that's just how things are. When Yeon arrives tomorrow hold a family meeting. We'll all watch it and figure out what to do from there based off the footage."

"You're sure?" He's hesitant; he just got back on good terms with Luhan and he didn't want to jeopardize it, but at the same time he was feeling extremely guilty over the possibility of not telling the other members. He was their leader and as their leader he needed to set good examples. How would it look if he were the reason that everyone felt so divided? 

"We'll hold off on telling Chanyeol. Not because we think he doesn't deserve to know, but because he's ill and it could put his health at risk. A big part of the reason Chanyeol's where he's at now is because we keep finding information but no answers. He really can't be informed until we get something that's solid; something we can go off that might have an answer." Junmyeon nods his head to what Jongdae was saying. He held several good points. Chanyeol was not in the right state of mind to be receiving any information over what they were finding. "Where did you end up finding the camera?"

A long sigh leaves Junmyeon as he rolls onto his back. He knew this question was coming, it was inevitable. There was no point in lying or beating around the bush, if he didn't tell him now he would only end up telling him tomorrow with the rest of the members present. "Luhan and I found it in Jongin's car." Jongdae grows stiff at this, eyes widening as he immediately jerks up. "You're serious?" He was dumbfounded. The last place he would have ever expected the camera to be would be in Jongin's car.

"Unfortunately." He mumbles. "It was in his air vent. There was a faint buzzing in the background that was similar to the buzzing in Baekhyun's room back in 2014 when the cameras were still active. Jongin was never bothered by the noise and thought it was from the ceiling fan, so it would make sense that it didn't bother him in his own car, right? He might have just thought it was a noise from the air vents." Jongdae's staring at Junmyeon with a concerned expression. "Why on earth would the stalker want Jongin?" 

"I don't know yet, hopefully that's what the footage can show us. Or at least help give us an idea. His camera was still active, so whoever was stalking Baekhyun is still currently stalking Jongin." Jongdae feels like throwing up at this information. To know that the same person that was directly or indirectly involved with the disappearance of Baekhyun is actively and currently watching one of their members was terrifying. What if the same thing happened to Jongin? What would they do then? 

"You have to tell the members right away. Jongin needs to know about this for his own safety. We shouldn't let him go anywhere alone and when he goes to the hospital to visit Chanyeol he needs guards and security with him- and oh my god, Chanyeol." Jongdae groans before flopping himself back onto the bed. "Jongin cannot tell Chanyeol about this. Chanyeol will actually go into cardiac arrest." 

"I know. That's why I was debating on telling Jongin in the first place." 

"No, something like that needs to be brought to everyone's attention immediately." Junmyeon nods his head at this, pulling the sheets up slightly as he gets comfortable. "I'll bring it to everyone's attention in the morning, don't worry." He watches as Jongdae snuggles up to his side, the younger always clingy when tired- it didn't matter who he was with. 

"I think," Jongdae practically yawns in Junmyeon's ear, "I'll sleep with you tonight. All this talk has me creeped out." He buries his face in Junmyeon's shoulder before he can respond, the leader only shrugging off his antics as he lets Jongdae get comfortable. Having someone next to him during all of this was comforting to him as well.

 

"Is this a good idea?" Luhan asks as Junmyeon gathers everyone in the living room, Yeon standing awkwardly by Yixing's side in the far corner of the room. 

"Maybe not, but it's better than not telling them anything at all. We'll get through this together, Luhan. It's okay." He pats him on the back in a reassuring manner, Luhan nodding his head. "If it's what you think is best." Is all he says before trailing over to the couch and sitting in between Minseok and Jongdae. Junmyeon waits for everyone to trinkle into the room one by one, most still sleepy as it was the early hours of the morning. 

"Junmyeon, why are we up so early on a day off?" Sehun asks with his head resting on Jongin's shoulder. "Did you find something?" 

"I wanted to talk to you guys about the seventh camera we were looking for yesterday." With this the rest of the members understandably stiffen, their attention on Junmyeon completely as the sleep is pulled from them. 

"Did you find it?" Kyungsoo asks before looking over to Yeon. "Is that why she's here? To look over the footage with us?" The members shift uneasily when Junmyeon confirms Kyungsoo's questions. 

"Where was it?" Minseok asks as Yeon walks over to the coffee table, placing a palm sized black object on the glass. "This was the seventh camera that Luhan and Junmyeon found yesterday." She looks around the members to make sure that everyone's paying attention before she continues. "It was still active, which could imply that the person who was stalking Baekhyun didn't leave after he disappeared. Instead, it could be likely that he shifted his attention onto a new member." The men look among each other with concerned expressions. 

"Where did you find it?" Kyungsoo asks once again. 

"It was in Jongin's car." Junmyeon says after a moment of silence, neither Luhan, Yixing, or Jongdae wanting to speak up. "In his air vent." Jongin chokes on air, eyes wide as he slams his hand down on his chest to try and calm himself down. "My _what?_ " He asks. "My car? Why _my_ car? Didn't you say that the footage you saw in China showed the stalker purposely avoiding my stuff and only grabbing Baekhyun's? So why would there be an active camera in my car and not anyone else's? Why am I the one who's being filmed?" He was starting to panic, Sehun rubbing his back soothingly as the boy starts to hyperventilate. "This isn't fair. What have I done to deserve this? Do you know who put it there?" His eyes are welling up with tears as he whips his head in Junmyeon's direction, eyes wide with fear. "What if I go missing too? Junmyeon, how do we know that someone isn't after me too?" 

The boy looks as if he'll burst into tears at any given moment. Junmyeon, Jongdae, Yixing, Minseok, and Kyungsoo all rush over to Jongin's side, trying to help calm him down. "We won't let that happen, Jongin." Junmyeon states in a reassuring tone. "We didn't know what was going on with Baekhyun, but we do now. We won't let anything happen to you, alright?" 

"He's right, Jongin. We know what's happening now so we can't prevent the same thing from happening to you." Kyungsoo's and Junmyeon's words were making him feel a little better. Living in the dorms with other people who were aware of the issue at hand did increase his chances of nothing happening to him. 

"And we haven't looked at the footage or anything. Maybe the person forgot they even had a camera in your car. Maybe they haven't looked at it since Baekhyun disappeared. It could just be a camera that they forgot about." While Jongin wanted to believe that it seemed unlikely. After everything they've gone through and discovered it wouldn't be surprising to know that someone was still keeping an eye out on one of the members. It was scary, but that was the world they were living in. 

"So you were able to look back into the footage then?" Minseok asks as he turns to look back at Yeon. 

"I didn't have time to look into all of it before Junmyeon woke everyone up, but I did get to see most of it-"

"Do you know when the camera was first installed?" Jongin didn't mean to interrupt, but he needed to know how long he's been completely unaware of a pair of eyes watching him in his own vehicle. 

"The earliest footage I could find was from the end of 2017." Yeon says in a soft voice. Jongin stills as he listens to this. Three years. Someone's been watching him for three years and he never realized until now. Someone had been watching him before Baekhyun even disappeared. But why him? What would they gain by watching him when they showed no interest in him before? "But, I did manage to catch a glimpse of something that could identify this person." This catches everyone's attention, especially Yixing, Luhan, and Junmyeon. 

"Did you know about that?" Jongdae asks Junmyeon who only shakes his head in response. Yeon pulls out her laptop, carefully setting it up and pulling up the video footage she had pulled from the camera earlier. "It's brief, so I'll replay it and slow it down if you need me to. But look in the left corner when they first approach the car." She plays the footage for the members to watch, each person moving closer so they can catch a glimpse of the person behind the camera. Sure enough, the footage starts when someone turns on the camera, a tall individual sitting in the passenger side of Jongin's car. They must have just activated the camera. They're wearing a mask, much to everyone's disappointment. Though when they lean forward to fiddle around with the air vent, the person's sleeve rides up, exposing some skin. Yeon quickly pauses the footage, drawing a red circle on her drawing tablet which is hooked up to the computer. The circle is drawn over the person's wrist. 

"Do you do see what I've just circled?" The woman asks as she stares at everyone. "It's a tattoo." Sure enough, Luhan can make out a triangle on the man's wrist that has forest and mountain scenery drawn inside. It was a common tattoo trend much to Luhan's dismay. This wouldn't make things any easier. Their perpetrator has a tattoo that most other people have. How was this supposed to help them at all? "Great, our guy has one of the most basic tattoos you can think of. Do you know how many people from the United States have that exact tattoo?"

"It's still something." Yeon argues. "We now know that the person you're looking for has a tattoo. But there's something else, too." She unpauses the video, letting the footage continue to play. The person was wearing a v-neck shirt, and from what they could tell they seemed to be male from how flat the chest appeared to be. "He has a scar." Sehun suddenly blurts out, the other members suddenly turning to look at him. Yeon pauses the footage once again, having missed that herself. 

"What were you going to point out?" Junmyeon asks when noticing the shocked expression on Yeon's face.

"Just that he appeared to be male." She says as she references to the chest. "I never noticed the scar." 

Sehun was right though. Located on the man's right collarbone was a scar that was barely peeking out from his shirt. It was darker than the rest of the skin surrounding it and from what they could see it could have been a decent sized scar as well. "So now we now he has a tattoo and a scar over his right collarbone." Sehun says while looking at Yeon to confirm his thoughts. She nods her head in response.

"That's really the only interesting thing I picked up from this," she licks over her lips nervously as she speaks, "the rest was footage of Jongin in his car. Because it was located in the air vent in front of the passenger seat, you don't actually see much of him unless someone else is driving the car and he's seated in the passenger seat. Sometimes you can hear him singing or talking on the phone, but that's about it. I'm not entirely sure why the camera was placed in that air vent, but if this person is insane then they might not have a reason." 

None of this was making Jongin feel any better. It didn't matter that it wasn't filming him all the time; it was still in his car. That was enough to freak him out. He can't imagine someone not freaking out when learning that someone's been spying on them for nearly three years. "I think the person might just be keeping tabs on him. Because the person, who we can assume is a man, never stole Jongin's things like he did to Baekhyun, never reached out and messaged him, and doesn't seem to be overtly concerned with catching him on camera means that he might not actually want him. He might just be keeping tabs on the rest of EXO by watching the younger-"

"But if they want to keep tabs on EXO as a whole, why would the camera be in Jongin's car?" Minseok asks Yeon. "How would it make sense for him to watch only one member as a means of watching all of us? Jongin really only uses his car to run errands or visit his family. I don't see how that could be relevant."

"I only know as much as you do." Yeon explains. "These are just my theories to help us figure something out. We won't know anything for sure until we find him and question him ourselves." She tucks a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. "It could be to throw us off. Maybe he knew we would find it too weird to find a camera in Jongin's car. Maybe this is his way to keep everyone distracted and to only further confuse everyone." 

Luhan's pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. He felt like things were going nowhere. "Regardless, we can't let Jongin go anywhere alone anymore. It's too risky now that we know someone's watching him, despite what their intentions may be. When he goes to visit Chanyeol, someone needs to go with him. If he goes to run errands, some needs to be there. And he can't take his own car anymore. He needs to borrow someone else's until we have things figured out."

"He can use my car." Minseok is the first one to offer. 

"And I don't mind going with him for errands and what not." Kyungsoo adds. Jongin smiles faintly at this. He was glad that his members will so willing to keep him safe from whoever was out there. 

"Along with that, the hospitals should have plenty of security since Chanyeol's staying there. I don't think anything would happen there, but it's better to be safe than sorry." Jongdae adds. "I think Chanyeol would like the extra company anyway." 

"When did you plan on visiting Chanyeol next, Jongin?" Yeon asks as she powers down her laptop. 

"Tomorrow morning." 

"I can go with you to the hospital." Yeon has a soft smile gracing her lips. "I don't fly back until the end of the week and I'd like to feel as if I'm helping out somehow. You know, other than looking at camera footages." Jongin nods his head at this. He trusted Yeon, if Yixing trusted her then he had no doubt that she was a good person to place his trust into. Plus she was smart and she seemed more observant than him, so having her around might make him safer. 

"So me, you, and Kyungsoo can go up and visit Chanyeol tomorrow?" Jongin asks as he shifts in his seat. The two immediately nod their heads in response. "Sounds great."

 

"I don't know what to do." Junmyeon admits to Yixing, the two standing in the backyard of the dorms. "I feel like we keep getting something, but not enough to actually do anything. How do we catch this guy? How can we prove that he even took Baekhyun?" Junmyeon's looking up at the cloudy sky above them, the wind blowing through the trees, causing the little leaves left to fall to the ground. "I feel like we can't do anything until something awful happens."

"Like what?" Yixing asks, eyes observing Junmyeon's face. He looked tired, more tired than he normally was from schedules and promotions. His skin was a lot paler, he was having more breakouts, and he had dark bags under his eyes. Fans took notice of this too, having spamming social media with their concerns for the leader. "Until someone else goes missing?"

"Pretty much." He sighs. "And I feel like the world's shittiest person for saying that, but it's true. Do we even have enough evidence to hand over to the police so they can reopen his case?"

"Of course we do. Do you think they'll do anything about it though? We're only here because they never investigated in the first place." He looks down at his hands, cracking his knuckles to get rid of their air bubbles. "We have to be careful with the information we hand out. If the police find out, the guy behind everything could find out as well. Which means he'll realize we're on to him and he might cover up his tracks better." 

"I can't deal with all this back and forth." Junmyeon buries his face in his hands as they lean against the railing of their back porch. "I knew this would be exhausting and difficult, but I didn't think- I didn't think it would take this much of a toll on me. This much of a toll on everyone. I would have never agreed to this if I knew it would send Chanyeol to the hospital." 

"But if we didn't continue we wouldn't have found out about the camera in Jongin's car. Or the cameras in our dorm rooms. We would think that everything was all okay- we'd be living in an oblivious bubble." 

"Sometimes it's better to be oblivious." Junmyeon fires back. 

"Sometimes, but not always. In this ignorance could get you killed." Yixing says softly. "Ignorance is never bliss, I don't care what people say. It's better to know what's happening in the world around you than to stumble around blindly." 

"I just don't understand why there was a camera in Jongin's car. What do we even do with this knowledge? My brain is so fried and scrambled that I can't even come up with reasonable responses anymore. We can't just lock him away in the dorms. It was hard enough for me to come up with a lie for Chanyeol being hospitalized. You can just tell the media that he nearly had a heart attack. If they know that, then you have to explain. You can't not explain why someone in their twenties nearly had a heart attack." Junmyeon had no idea what he was supposed to do with everything in front of him. "I just feel like he's watching our every move. I just feel like something bad is about to happen, Yixing." 

Yixing looks over at this, eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Something real bad." Junmyeon repeats before turning around and heading back inside without another word.

\---

_A/n: gonna be a double update son. you aren't ready for the next chapter lmao_

_this is somewhat unedited so i'm sorry for mistakes with grammar and typos._

_also go follow baekhyun on twitter @ B_hundred_Hyun because we don't deserve him lol_

__

_so the second tattoo is the one i had in mind for the tattoo shown in the footage :) basic, but still really pretty LOL_


	15. Too beautiful to die, too wild to live

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's some detailed depictions that may be too gorey for some. Happy reading!

"Good morning, Chanyeol." Jongin says as he peeks his head through the door before entering all the way, Yeon and Kyungsoo trailing in after him. "How are you feeling? You only have three more days left until you're released. Exciting, right?" He was trying to be optimistic for the other, though Chanyeol for once was also excited. 

"I am, actually. I'm tired of being in this hellhole." He says while sitting up. He watches as Jongin takes a seat on the chair next to his bed, bowing slightly to Yeon and then Kyungsoo. "I'm so bored here. All I can really do here is watch tv all day and scroll around through Twitter or Instagram. It was okay at first but now it's getting kinda old now. I also watched every YouTube video in my recommended list." Jongin's eyes widen at this while his eyebrows raise. "I know. I watched two-hundred videos." He snorts under his breath before bringing his attention back to the other. "So what's going on at home? Any word about Baekhyun? Has anyone found anything yet?"

"Chanyeol, you know we aren't allowed to talk about these kind of things." Kyungsoo tsks while Jongin's digging around in the bag he brought with him. "The doctors said that if you get stressed enough you could have a heart attack and this situation involving Baekhyun is pretty stressful, yeah?" Chanyeol only rolls his eyes at this, though before he could protest Yeon's placing a small stack of two or three books on his lap. 

"I brought this for you since I figured you would be bored here. And you confirmed my suspicions. The doctor said to avoid giving you any thrillers or suspenseful novels, so I went for some comedies and some mystery ones. I hope that they'll be good enough to cure your boredom. Figured it would be better than scrolling aimlessly on social media for several hours." She's clearly anxious, feeling out of her comfort zone when talking to people she didn't know. She's rocking on her heels slightly, a small smile on her lips. "And Jongin said that you liked to read in your free time so I thought- well I brought these with me for the plane ride, so I haven't been using them." She awkwardly clears her throat when catching herself rambling. "Hope you enjoy them." She squeaks out before scurrying towards Kyungsoo and standing behind him, though due to her impressive height that was closer to Jongin's or Sehun's she ended up towering over him anyway.

Chanyeol stares down at the books placed on his lap. He was honestly touched that someone would take the time out of their day to bring him something; he was honestly just shocked that someone would even think of him when going about their own day. "Thank you, Yeon. I'm sure I'll enjoy these. I love mystery novels, and who doesn't love to laugh?" He hopes to ease the other's tension when seeing her second guessing herself. 

"Oh, yeah that's true." She smiles sheepishly. Jongin's rubbing his hands together nervously while glancing around the room from his seat, Chanyeol catching on right away. "What's wrong?" Chanyeol wasn't stupid; it wasn't hard to tell when something was bothering Jongin. Honestly, it wasn't hard for Chanyeol to tell when something was bothering any of the members. He was always good at reading people. Or at least so he thought, anyway. "You're usually more talkative than this. You haven't really said much since coming in and that's unlike you. Did something happen? Did you find something out about Baekhyun?" There's a hint of hope in his voice when he asks and it only makes Jongin feel guilty that he had no actual news about Baekhyun to bring him. Chanyeol's tilting his head so that he can catch the younger's eye, smiling a bright smile when accomplishing it. "Hey." He says after a few seconds of silence pass. Jongin can't help but laugh, lightly slapping his arm in the process. "Seriously though, what's wrong?" 

The fact that Jongin still looked hesitant concerned the other male. "What if you stayed at the hospital just a little bit longer?" Chanyeol furrows his eyebrows at this. Why would he suggest something like that? Had the doctor told him something that he didn't know about yet? "I'm just afraid that if you come back home you'll get stressed out over all the talk about Baekhyun. Things are getting a little intense back at the dorms and Baekhyun seems to be the only thing anyone's ever talking about. What if you have a heart attack?" 

"I won't have a heart attack just because someone's talking about Baekhyun." Chanyeol dismisses the idea quickly. It was such a ridiculous thing to think about. He was stronger than that. 

"They're just..." Jongin didn't want to say anything that might freak the other one out, so he needs to be careful with everything that he's going to say. He glances over cautiously at Kyungsoo and Yeon who are watching him closely. He knew they would intervene if anything got too tense. "I don't want you locking yourself away in your room anymore because you can't handle the conversation." He panics slightly when Chanyeol flinches from how harsh he sounded. "I didn't mean to sound harsh."

"I know you didn't." Chanyeol says after a moment of silence. Chanyeol could have gotten upset over what the other said, but he knew him well enough to understand that he meant no harm with his words. It was just poor wording, he wouldn't hold that against him. "I'm just concerned that you'll charge into everything head first and then fall into the same problems as earlier."

"What am I supposed to do then? I still get released in three days." Chanyeol wasn't really sure where Jongin wanted to take this conversation. 

"Stay in the hospital?"

"Stay in the hospital? For how much longer? I can't just ask the staff to keep me longer. If I'm healthy then they have to let me go, that's how this whole hospital thing works." He explains with wide eyes. 

"I just need you to stay until this Baekhyun situation is settled and figured out." Jongin pleads as he pulls at the bag handle in his hands. Jongin couldn't have Chanyeol finding out that a camera was found in his car. He knew it would send him over the edge; he couldn't handle another thing like that happening. And if Jongin were in danger he didn't want Chanyeol to know anything about it. Call him selfish, but he'd rather this all disappear before he gets back home.

"And when will that be, Jongin? We have no idea when something like this will ever be solved or figured out. Should I just live in a hospital until then?" He scoffs at the thought and shakes his head. "Thank you for your concern, Jongin but I will be okay coming back. I won't lock myself away in my room and I won't give myself a heart attack, alright? I'm a big boy, I'll be able to handle things." Jongin only sighs at this, though decides not to say anything. It was always a losing battle whenever he argued with Chanyeol. Mostly because he was too stubborn to let anyone else win, but Jongin also had a soft spot for him which didn't help him at all. 

"Alright." Yeon jumps in before things could heat up any further. "I'm going to run to the market and pick up some things for you to eat, alright?" She grabs her purse, flinging it over her shoulder. Jongin quickly gets up. "I'll go with you. I know what he likes so I can help you look for things. Plus I know the area and I assume you aren't too familiar with it, right?" He laughs quietly when Yeon grows flustered from the question. "I'll take that as a yes. Soo, will you stay here with Chanyeol until we get back? If the nurses come by with a meal and try to force him to eat it just let them know that we'll be back in fifteen to twenty minutes with food for him to eat." He's joking about the nurses forcing him to eat of course, though Chanyeol still acts as if it would actually happen. "See you soon, alright?" 

Kyungsoo and Chanyeol wave the two off as they exit the hospital room and head down the hall afterwards.

 

Jongin's been scanning the aisles with Yeon for a while now in hopes of finding something that Chanyeol would like. He's been buying him a little too much boxed ramen recently and figured that the older might want a change of routine. He also wanted to skip out on treats; Jongin had been feeding him too much junk food and Junmyeon would more than likely scold him if he found out. He would get him a meal, one that had nutritional value. It didn't help that Yeon didn't have much knowledge about Korean food and also knew next to nothing about Chanyeol and what he liked. Maybe he should have had Kyungsoo come with him instead. He definitely would have known what to get for the other. He's lazily pushing the shopping cart in front of him despite knowing that he wouldn't buy enough to need a cart in the first place.

Jongin honestly loved shopping, but he hated dealing with everyone in the public. Anytime he went just to run errands he'd have fans hunt him down or random strangers who'd flag him down just because he looked familiar. Sometimes he had an elderly couple stop him to tell him how much they liked his dramas. He didn't normally mind it too much, but sometimes he didn't have enough time to stop and talk with everyone. Today was one of those days, he really wanted to get back to Chanyeol before the nurses stopped by his room. He was wearing a beanie and a black surgical face mask in hopes that people wouldn't notice him, though he found out that when you wear a disguise around people who aren't, you'll get caught faster. There didn't really seem to be any winning in his experience. He was wearing a black hoodie as well, trying to avoid making any unwanted eye contact with people around him. Thankfully it was the middle of the week and in the morning, so most people were either at school or at work. 

"He'll want some orange juice maybe." Yeon says while staring at all the cold beverages in front of her. "He hasn't had that in a while." Jongin agrees, leaning forward and then grabbing the personal carton of orange juice, placing it into the cart. "Drink, check." He mutters to himself while turning his cart around. "Now for the actual...meal part." He groans silently while roaming down the empty aisles. He was really bad at remembering what people actually liked to eat. He's not sure why his memory only failed him when trying to recall the favorite foods of his friends and family, but that's how it seemed to always go. He sighs and digs around his bag that's placed in the cart, hunting for his phone. He figured he'd just call Chanyeol and ask what he'd want to eat. As luck would have it though, Jongin can't find his phone in his bag. He hastily checks his pockets before groaning loudly. He must have left it in Chanyeol's hospital room. 

"Yeon, do you have your phone on you?" He asks when turning around to look at her. She's trailing not too far behind him, gazing at the two aisles surrounding them.

"I do. Did you forget yours?" She asks while pulling her phone out of her purse. 

"No, but I left mine in the hospital room. Kyungsoo probably has it then. I was going to call and ask him what meals he'd want to eat, but I don't want to waste your time. I'm sure we'll be able to find something. I mean, our two minds put together? Unstoppable." Yeon laughs at this, shaking her head as she follows behind him. "If you say so." She hums quietly. 

"Would he be mad if I just bought him a sausage stick?" He asks himself while standing in the middle of an aisle. 

"Probably." Yeon answers from his side. He pitifully kicks the air before throwing in two packages of sausage on a stick anyway. Whatever, Chanyeol will be grateful for whatever Jongin gets him. Jongin throws in a few bags of almonds, instant ramen (because Chanyeol will never be able to escape it), microwavable rice (something Jongin was never big on but Chanyeol actually seemed to like it), and a few microwavable dinners after several more minutes of searching with Yeon. Jongin's not sure why he's buying Chanyeol so much food; maybe this will somehow last the rest of the week. It would be nice if he didn't have to run to the market anymore. Most of the items he tossed into the cart didn't contain nutritional value like he hoped, but beggars can't be choosers and Chanyeol's going to eat whenever Jongin shoves down his throat. 

"Are we getting him food for the rest of his stay?" Yeon asks when peering down into the cart and looking at all the food.

"Knowing him he'll eat all of this by the end of the day." He snorts while pushing the cart towards the cashier aisles. "You haven't seen him eat yet. It gets ugly." He warns as him and Yeon walk up to an empty line.

The cashier gives him an odd look while ringing up his... _variety_ of food, though Jongin just smiles awkwardly in return. He probably looked like the exact definition of a college student right now with the stuff he was trying to check out with. Regardless, she kept her thoughts to herself and let Jongin checkout painlessly. He was relieved that she didn't recognize him, and if she did she certainly didn't let on that she cared. Honestly, Jongin really didn't want to be spotted by anyone right now. With Chanyeol's hospitalization everywhere in the news, he'd certainly be hounded with questions by concerned and worried fans. Not that he could blame them, but he just really didn't want to answer them. Especially when he wasn't allowed to. Along with that, people might think Yeon's his girlfriend and a dating scandal on top of everything else was really the last thing he wanted to deal with. SM would then also find out about Yeon and would most likely question him into his early grave about her. He thinks the extra stress added onto everything would surely result with him going into the hospital as well. 

He's carrying his bags of groceries to Minseok's car, not letting Yeon carry any of the other bags. Jongin hadn't admitted this to anyone, but he was really excited to be driving around in Minseok's car. He had an absolutely beautiful car and it was rare that he let anyone else drive it. Obviously the situation that allowed him to drive the car was unfortunate, but Jongin would take what he could get. If he had to have a stalker in order to drive his car then so be it.

He giggles to himself when fishing out Minseok's car keys from his bag when finally reaching the vehicle, grinning when hearing the car unlock. "So nice." He compliments the car while popping open the trunk. He carefully places the bags inside, closing the trunk of the car afterwards. "Good job, Jongin." He praises himself while walking over to the driver's side of the car. He plops himself down into the seat and turns on the car, pulling on his seatbelt after. Yeon gets in the passenger seat, pulling on her seatbelt as she leans back into the seat. 

"You weren't lying when you said Minseok had a really nice car." She says while admiring the car, her eyes taking in the dark leather seats and the smooth wooding on the dashboard. "This must have cost a fortune." 

"I don't even think I could afford this car." He comments while turning the keys in the ignition. His eyebrows furrow when the car doesn't start up, his eyes widening slightly. Did the battery die? Was it something that he did? Minseok would actually kill him if he messed up his car. He didn't think he did anything wrong, but Jongin was a little clueless sometimes when it came to cars. "Please don't do this to me." He gently begs the car as if it'll listen to him. He pats the dashboard lovingly, something that Junmyeon taught him to do a few years back should the car have trouble starting up. He wasn't actually sure how that fixed anything, but nothing else was coming to mind. An uneasy feeling begins to wash over him, though he doesn't know why. Nothing is out of the ordinary and car troubles isn't anything new. It's a common problem for people to face, so why was he so nervous all of a sudden? "You're my witness. When Minseok kills me, please tell him that all I did was try to start his car." He tells Yeon who's watching him with a concerned expression. 

"Maybe the engine died?" Yeon suggests from her seat. "Has Minseok mentioned anything about car troubles before?"

"Never." He sighs, resting his head against the steering wheel and groaning loudly. "I'm a dead man, Yeon. Minseok is going to kill me and then skin me and make me into a rug. You know the rugs that people have on their floors? The one's with the bear heads. Minseok's going to turn me into a rug like that."

"Morbid." She says before unbuckling her seatbelt. "Do you want me to pop the hood and take a look?"

"You know about cars?"

"No."

The two sit in silence, the situation of how screwed they were settling in. "I could call a towing company."

"Why don't you just call Yixing instead? Maybe we could call Junmyeon or Luhan and they could come pick us up-" There's a sudden searing pain in the back of his head and his vision is blurring. He squeezes his eyes shut tightly and brings a hand to the back of his head, feeling around for where the source of the pain was coming from. He winces when his head stings, pulling his hand away instinctively. His hands are shaking when he looks down to see his fingers coated in...blood? Why was he bleeding? His head was throbbing and his heart was starting to race. What was happening?

"What the fuck?" Yeon asks before whipping around in her seat. Everything that happens next is too fast for her to keep up with. A liquid is sprayed into her eyes, a loud and sharp scream leaving her lips as her hands come up to cover her face. She's still screaming and Jongin's trying to wrap his mind around things.  He jumps in his seat when he looks behind him to see a figure sitting in the back, a can of some kind of spray in his hand. Before he can fully turn around and address the person, a pair of hands wrap around his neck from behind. He's struggling to fight them off, though they're stronger than he expected them to be. "G-Get off!" He shouts, though the hands only apply more pressure to his neck. He's becoming lightheaded and it's getting harder and harder to breathe. He can start to see spots in his vision after a few seconds, his own hands gripping at the pair around his neck. He's trying to pry them off, though the hands aren't budging. "Y-Yeon, help!" He chokes out a weak plea for help. 

Yeon can't see of course, the older woman trying to keep herself from going into a full blown panic attack. She feels around for her purse, her hand gripping onto her bang and swinging it in the direction that she remembered the person being in. Based of Jongin now gasping for air and the harsh gasp from behind she assumes that she hit them. "Jongin, are you okay?" She can't open her eyes, she probably wouldn't want to either, and she's constantly wiping at her nose and eyes. Her entire face felt as if it were burning as she hears a car door opening and slamming. "Jongin? Jongin, what's happening?" She had no idea what was happening, but she could assume that it had something to do with the camera that was found in Jongin's car earlier.

It takes Jongin a few seconds to get the car door open, scrambling out afterwards. His adrenaline was through the roof as he darts over to the passenger side, opening Yeon's door and helping her out. She was pepper sprayed and Jongin could feel some of the effects as they had been in an enclosed space together, though it wasn't anything as bad as Yeon was going through. "We need to make it back to the store and get help." He pants out, his heart pounding against his ribcage. He's trying to flag someone down for help, though there doesn't appear to be anyone else in the parking lot. It was unusually empty, maybe only two or three other cars in the parking lot. He's walking as fast as he can while assisting Yeon, though whenever he looks back he sees a person in a " **G O D** " mask not far behind. How did this happen? How did he get in this situation? Why did they want him?

"Yeon, what did the mask say in the footage? The one you saw with Junmyeon and Luhan back in China." 

"Why? Do you see it?" She asks, panic rising in her voice when Jongin confirms. It was just as she earlier suspected, the person they were dealing with wasn't done. They did want Jongin for an unknown reason and she was caught in the middle of it. Yeon freezes in her tracks, pain spreading throughout her body as she finds herself unable to move. She doesn't know what's happening, she can't see, she can't move, and now she can't speak. Jongin turns around when Yeon stops walking, looking at her with wide eyes as she stands paralyzed in the middle of the parking lot. Before he can question her she collapses to the ground, Jongin diving down to catch her. She's unconscious, though Jongin soon knows why when seeing two metal probes on her back, a wire connected to them. She was tasered. 

He can see the person in the mask slowly approaching them, the taser in their hand before tossing it to the ground. He had no idea what to do. He couldn't just leave Yeon unconscious in a market parking lot, but he couldn't wait like a sitting duck either. How did he end up here? Every cell in his body is screaming at him to run, screaming at him to find the nearest person and call for help. But then what would happen to Yeon? What if the person kidnaps her too? He couldn't bring himself to let anything happen to her; he didn't want another repeat of Baekhyun. If he could somehow stop this one, something he couldn't do for Baekhyun, would it make everything worth it? 

He's too scared to look up when he sees a pair of feet in front of him, his eyes squeezing shut as he holds Yeon close to him. What was he supposed to do? He was never trained for a situation like this. He only knew how to deal with crazy fans but this- this was something far outside of that realm. "You won't fight me?" The voice is deep, one that was unfamiliar to him. "You're pathetic; just like him." The words sting Jongin, sinking into his skin and bloodstream. Was he talking about Baekhyun? Was this the same person that kidnapped him? "You should have just left her. Things would have ended a lot better for you."

Before Jongin can respond he feels a blowing force against the top of his head, his vision blurring as he struggles to stay awake. He can feel something warm sliding down the front of his face. What was he just hit with? He sees broken glass on the ground around him, a broken beer bottle in the hand of the man behind the mask. "I'm sure we'll have fun with you." The last thing he can make out is a scar just above the man's right collarbone as he leans down before everything around him slips into darkness.

 

_Click._

_Click._

_Click._

Jongin's eyes flutter open slowly when a bright flash pulls him from his sleep. His eyes are burning and his head throbbing, though when he tries to press his hand to his head he can't. His hands must be bound together or restricted in some way to keep him from moving them. It's hard to keep his eyes open when all he wants to do is sleep, yet there's a more pressing issue at hand right now. Another bright flash and soft clicking sound grabs his attention, his eyebrows furrowing as he tries to find the source of the sound and light. He can barely hear footsteps in the background signaling that he wasn't alone. 

He's lying down on a cold concrete floor but that's about all he knows. He's on his back and he turns his head to try and look around the room he's in. It's pitch black though and he hasn't been able to catch a glimpse of the room as the flash of light blinded him each time it went off. 

_Click._

This time the flash of light was in his face, his eyes watering from the assault on his senses. He must look like a wreck and god only knows the kind of facial expression he has on right now. His wrists are starting to hurt and the more he wiggles his hands around the more he comes to the conclusion that they're definitely tied together by something. His guess would be duct tape, but he doesn't know for sure. He tries to push himself up so that he can be in a position where he's at least sitting up so he can possibly get a better feel for where he was. It's a difficult thing to do, however, and each time he tries to push himself off his back he grows more and more lightheaded. The back of his head throbs and stings each time he tries to push himself up to the point where he feels like passing out. "Help me, please." He pleads as another flash goes off in his face. He doesn't know where he is or who he's with. Why is he here in the first place? 

Every cell in his body is screaming for rest and sleep, begging him to stop moving. He thinks he might just give in when a pang of pain spreads throughout his head. He lays his head back down on the concrete, eyes inevitably falling shut as he embraces the darkness once again.

 

When Jongin wakes again he's no longer in the dark. His vision is still blurred as he tries to come to. He's staring down at his lap, his hands no longer tied together, though there's bruising and torn skin on his wrists where they were bound together from earlier. One of his fingernails is black and bleeding, though he can't figure out how that happened. Must have been during his struggle and his adrenaline kept him from feeling it. 

He blinks a few times as his vision slowly goes back to normal. He brings a hand up slowly to his head, confusion spreading in his mind when he notices that his head no longer hurts. His fingers feel around his head, flinching slightly when realizing that his head was wrapped and bandaged. Someone...took care of him? Maybe he was rescued and in a hospital now. 

"You must be confused." 

Jongin snaps his head up when hearing an unfamiliar voice. That's when he finds out he's not in a hospital room, but rather a living room instead. Nothing was making any sense to him as he looks around the room. Everything was so...odd. The flooring was made of a brownie stained wood paneling, the walls painted a deep and dark blue with pictures of random objects framed on the walls. He was sitting in a white fuzzy chair with a black coffee table placed in front of him. Across from him and the coffee table is a woman seated in a similar chair, staring at him with a soft and gentle expression on her face. Perhaps she is the one who saved him? "Where am I?" He asks as his mind tries to make sense of the situation. 

"That's not important." She responds gently. "How does your head feel? You took quite a fall earlier. I'm surprised you didn't have a concussion." He doesn't know what she's talking about. 

"It's okay." Is all Jongin responds with. "I need to get back home." That's when it hits him. _Yeon._ He goes to stand up, though as soon as he does so he feels lightheaded again, nearly losing his balance and falling over in the process. "Where is Yeon?" He asks as he looks around the room wildly, the room starting to spin slightly from how fast he was looking around. "Did you see Yeon? I was with her. She's tall, tan skin, black hair that rests just above her shoulders. She has a beauty mark on her cheek-"

"You shouldn't stand so quickly when you're still recovering." Her voice is firm, but not in a way that intimidates him. Still, he's confused and easy to distract in the current moment as he's not all together. "You might faint again if you push yourself too hard. I don't think you would want that." He's not sure he wants to know what she means by that. He stumbles back when the woman gets up from her seat and approaches him. She gently takes him by the arm, bringing him back to his chair and having him sit back down. "Breathe." He forces a smile in return when she smiles down at him before heading back to her seat. "My name is Rei. I figured you were curious." 

Call Jongin naive, but Rei seemed nice. She had soft facial features and dark black hair that was neatly pulled back into a bun while wearing a blue dress that stopped around her knees, the fabric almost matching the color of the walls. Maybe it was her soft and delicate features that made him feel a little more at ease, or simply because she was a woman and he fell for the stereotype that she couldn't hurt him. Regardless, she didn't send him any bad vibes. 

"You must be thirsty. You've been asleep for quite some time." Her voice pulls him out of his thoughts. "Would you like something to drink? Water? Tea?" He can only nod his head in response, still trying to figure out what was happening. "Kura, bring the boy some water!" Rei shouts, startling Jongin in his seat. "You'd think he would have introduced himself already. Youth today truly lack manners, don't they?" Jongin wasn't sure why she was talking like an elderly woman when she looked to be around the same age as him, if not younger by a few years.

"Miss, where am I? How did I get here? I just need to know what's going on. Have you seen Yeon? I need to know where she is." He pleads silently. "I just want some answers."

"Let's not get greedy, _Oni_." She warns with a stern voice. Jongin looks around, frowning slightly when not seeing anyone behind or beside him. 

"You're talking to me?" He asks while pointing his index finger at himself.

"Of course. Who else would I be talking to?" 

"My name isn't Oni though. It's Jongin." He politely corrects. Did she have him confused with someone else? What was happening?

" _Kura!_ " Jongin flinches from how angrily she shouts the name. Her eyes were dark while she yelled for whoever belonged to the name, though she quickly forces a smile on her red lips when turning to face Jongin again. "Kids; they just don't listen." He can hear shuffling from the room over, the sound of water being poured in the background. 

"I think I need to go now." He excuses himself before abruptly standing, though Rei shoots a sharp glare his way. 

"Sit." It nearly comes out as a growl and it sends chills up Jongin's back. She raises an eyebrow when she sees Jongin still standing, only to laugh him off afterwards. "Alright, fine. The door's that way." She points in the direction of the door, Jongin looking at her cautiously before glancing over at the door. Was she tricking him? Why was she letting him leave? He decided he didn't want to hang around to find out the answer, so he walks towards the door. He needed to find Yeon and getting out of here would be the first step that he needed to take. He picks up his pace, his feet moving quicker as he bursts out into a full on run. His foot gets caught on something, however and he goes crashing into the floor. He lets out a cry as he cups his now bleeding nose with his hands. "I think I broke my nose." He chokes out to Rei. What did he trip on? He pushes himself to sit up, pausing when seeing a chain attached to his ankle. "Why is my ankle chained?" He demands and sends a hard tug to the metal chain. "Rei!" He shouts when he's only met with silence. 

He forces himself back up, making his way back into the living room. Rei is still sitting in the same white chair, her dark eyes boring into him, following his every step. "You should have just sat back down when I asked you to." She soothes out the wrinkles in her dress, her pale fingers contrasting with the color of the dark fabric. He swallows thickly and sits back down in his seat. 

"Please tell me what's going on. Why am I here? Why is my ankle chained up? Why can't I leave?" 

"If you ask me one more question I'm going to cut your tongue out of your mouth." Jongin stares at the woman in horror; he had no idea if she was bluffing or would actually deliver on her threat. "Maybe I'll just sew your mouth shut instead. The next time you fall asleep- oh, Kura. You're finally decided to make yourself useful." She deadpans when a new presence is in the room. Jongin looks up from his seat, nearly choking on his own spit when seeing who _'Kura'_ was. 

"Baekhyun?" He chokes out, looking at the other as if he's just seen a ghost or even an alien. Something looked off about him though. He was much, _much_ paler than the last time he'd seen him, and his eyes looked devoid of all life. They seemed to barely take in anything, though Jongin swears he saw a brief flicker of light go through them when his eyes first landed on Jongin. "What the hell is going on?" He shouts as he looks to Rei with wide eyes. "Why am I not getting any fucking answers?"

"Oni, sit down!" Rei shouts angrily, her patience running dangerously thin. "Kura, what took you so long? You're making our new playmate wait this long just for a glass of water?" Playmate? Jongin didn't like where this was going. "Hello? Are you not even going to greet him?" She's scolding Baekhyun who only looks to the floor, eyes refusing to meet hers or Jongin's. 

"My name is Kura. It's a pleasure to meet you, Oni." Jongin thinks that he never actually left the parking lot of the market and was just hallucinating in Minseok's car. What else could it be? It made more sense than the shit show he was in right now. 

"Baekhyun, what the hell is going on?" He's about to accuse the older boy of running off to live with this psychopath before his eyes travel downwards to find that Baekhyun has a chain latched to his ankle as well, though he nearly hurls when seeing the state his ankle was in. The chain was rusted more than Jongin's, but the skin around Baekhyun's ankle looked so raw and infected that it seemed impossible just to see Baekhyun standing on his right foot. The skin was graying and covered in a thick layer of blood, and Jongin swore he could see maggots moving around in the most certainly dead and raw skin. Has it not been changed since they first brought him here? How could they take such poor care of him? What if he had some kind of blood infection?

He's left speechless as he stares at Baekhyun's ankle, eyes shifting over to Rei and then back to Baekhyun. He's so thin. So pale. So bruised. His arms and legs are covered in scars and Jongin can't even begin to imagine the shit they put him through or did to him. He's wearing a dirty white shirt that's covered in stains that range to blood to dirt to other things that Jongin doesn't quite want to think about and a pair of black pants that have been ripped so much that they're barely on. He's in awful state and looks so emotionally exhausted that Jongin wouldn't be surprised if Baekhyun truly thought his name was Kura at this point. Does he even remember him? He might just think he's some boy named Oni that Rei picked up off the streets. 

"Hand him the fucking water." Rei snaps after a few seconds of Baekhyun just standing in the same spot. He scurries over to Jongin, bowing slightly and shakily handing him a glass of water. Jongin takes it carefully, noticing the black and rotting nails on his fingers. Some of his fingers didn't even have any nails and it took everything in Jongin not to vomit. All he could feel was an intense anger building up inside of him, though he had no idea what to do. He was chained to god knows what and he had nothing to fight against or attack Rei with. If he wasn't careful then he could end up getting both him and Baekhyun killed. 

"Aren't you going to drink it?" Rei's voice is sickingly sweet and it makes the blood in Jongin's body stop. He stares down at the clear content, swishing the water around in the cup gently. How was he to know that she didn't put something in the water? How was he to know if this was water at all? He glances over to Baekhyun for answers, though he's staring at the floor beneath his feet once again. Would he get killed for not drinking the water? Would he get killed _for_ drinking the water? Rei's unwavering gaze has him down the water within seconds, his body craving the liquid anyway. Nothing happens after he drinks it though he thinks that he may be safe. In that area, anyway. 

"Where's Yeon?" He asks as he holds onto the glass tightly. He could smash it and attack Rei with it. 

Rei pinches the bridge of her nose when he asks about Yeon once again. "I know you know who I'm talking about-"

"She's away." Is all Rei responds with. Without warning, Jongin slams the glass on the side of the coffee table, Baekhyun jumping in shock and clearly looking startled from the sudden action. To Jongin's disappointment and horror the cup doesn't shatter, leaving him with no shards of glass to fight her off with. Rei laughs in response, a sinister smile on her lips. "That's really unfortunate." She hums. "I'll have you dealt with when Jaeyul comes back home. For no, Kura will show you to your room. It's where you'll be staying." Jongin opens his mouth to say something, though the glare Rei sends him shuts him up immediately. "It would be extremely wise of you to keep your mouth shut or you might truly wake up with no tongue, Oni." 

Baekhyun gently takes Jongin by the arm, leading him down the hall before Rei can send any more threats his way. Once the two of them are out of earshot, Jongin immediately steps in front of Baekhyun. "Baek, what's going on? What's happening? Who is that and why is she calling you Kura and me Oni?" More importantly, however, Baekhyun wasn't dead. He was alive, and while not in the best of shape he wasn't dead. Jongin lunges forward to hug the older male, squeezing him tight, but not tight enough to hurt him, in his arms. He thought he'd never be able to hug the other again. "Baekhyun, I was so scared. We were all so scared about you. I'm going to get us out of here, okay? I don't know how, but I'm going to find a way out, we're going to find Yeon, and we're going to get out of here."

He was so happy he could cry, which was odd considering the situation he was in. Still, he found it justified as he found Baekhyun alive. "You don't have to say anything." He says when seeing Baekhyun struggle to speak. He had no idea what Rei and this supposed Jaeyul did to him and he didn't want to force him into talking if he wasn't ready to do so. "Just know that I'm here for you and I will fight Rei if she tries to hurt you. You aren't alone anymore." Baekhyun smiles at this, though it's a broken smile. 

"I don't know what you're talking about, Oni." It barely comes out as a whisper, the shorter male gently tugging him in the direction of the room. Jongin can feel his heart break and a sense of dread spreading throughout his body as he realizes just how much trouble he's truly in.

\---

_A/N: now if you don't mind me, i have a harry styles concert to enjoy tomorrow and i'm gONNA BE SO LIT _

_also yES Baekhyun is alive!!!!_


	16. Nothing left for you

Rain's pelting the surrounding dark and rich soil, seeping deep into the dirt as Yeon's eyebrows furrow from the uncomfortable feeling of her wet clothes sticking to her skin. There's a throbbing to the back and sides of her head. Her eyes are closed and she's too afraid to open them, but due to the loud noises of frogs, crickets, and other insects she's come to the conclusion that she's outside somewhere. A loud crack of thunder rolls across the angry sky, water raining down onto her as if it were personally mad at her for simply existing. The rain was cold and unforgiving, much like the bruises and aches on her body. 

She's couldn't remember much; just that she had been in the parking lot of a market with Jongin and that Minseok's car failed to start. She can remember something striking Jongin in the back of his head and making him bleed, and she also remembers being sprayed with pepper spray. Every part of her body was sore- she could remember the taser as well. Her eyebrow twitches as she slowly blinks her eyes open, water droplets falling and rolling off the curves of her face. 

She didn't know where she was. She forces herself to sit up, her vision blurring for a brief moment before taking in her surroundings. She was in a field, though from the fog she couldn't see if she was near any houses or main city roads. She looks down at her hands that are shaky and covered in cuts and dirt. What happened to her? She can remember the person who attacked them; it was the same person that she had footage of. Why would they want Jongin? Why would they dump her here? Why not just kill her off? Would it not be better if they had no witnesses? Perhaps they just assumed she was a random girl Jongin was with. That could be likely. 

She slowly pushes herself up from the ground, nearly losing her balance and falling over in the process. She felt extremely lightheaded and cold on top of everything else. Winter rain was never forgiving and Yeon's baby blue sweater wasn't doing much to keep her warm when it was drenched. She knew she needed to get out of the rain quickly- staying out in conditions like this for too long could become dangerous. But how did she know that she wasn't being followed? She could have been dumped here for a specific purpose, or they could have just left her for dead. Both options seemed likely. She starts to walk alongside an empty road, one that seemed to stretch on for miles without any sign of civilization. Was she still in Seoul? She lost her bag during the struggle which also had her smart phone inside. She feels around her jean pockets when remembering something, a sigh of relief escaping her when feeling a small object.

Her disposable flip phone. Yeon kept a flip phone strictly for business calls, and she was glad that today she remembered to bring it with her. Her heart drops, however, when pulling out the phone only to see that it couldn't receive service in the area she was in. She looks around once again. Nothing. Just grass, trees, fog. She looked to be outside of some forest, but Yeon's knowledge about Korea was limited as it was, especially when it came to the geography and landmarks. Yeon was beyond lost and she knew it. 

"I just need to keep walking until I get service." She tells herself, trying to keep herself from spiraling into a panic attack. Out of all the years she's been alive, out of all the clients she's had- she's never been in a situation like this. She thought she had worked plenty of risky jobs before this, but she was never kidnapped and left for dead. She could hardly complain though, she knew what she was getting into when she first accepted Yixing's call. Something in her gut told her to ignore the call, but Yeon answered it anyway. How could she just ignore a long time friend like that? Especially when she knew about the struggles he was going through? Maybe her gut was right, but Yeon wouldn't have forgiven herself if she never volunteered to help Yixing. This was important anyway, right? There had to be some meaning behind all of this. 

She feels as if she's been walking alongside the empty road for at least an hour now with no sign of any town coming into view. Her eyes have adjusted to the fog, though she still couldn't fight off the feeling of uneasiness. Her gut was sending her a strong feeling and she'd be a fool to ignore it. 

_She was being followed._

"Relax." She whispers to herself, side eyeing her surroundings. This didn't make sense. Jongin was kidnapped and she was being followed? Who was with Jongin? Where was Jongin? Maybe she had been wrong from the very start- maybe there had been more than one person involved in this. It would explain some things that weren't adding up. She picks up her pace, eyes straight ahead.

The rain is loud but the footsteps behind her are louder, echoing in her ears. 

Was this how she was going to die? Alone in a country that wasn't her home, somewhere by a forest in the rain? What a sad way to go out. She didn't want to die; she still had so many things left to do. She breaks out into a sprint, her feet taking her as fast as they possibly can. She needed to get service and call someone quick. Or at least find a town where she could slip through their grasp. The rain is falling sideways, hitting her violently as she continues to run, her feet splashing in the puddles along the road. She can hear splashing behind her, indicating that whoever was following her was hot on her trail.

She needed to come up with something; she needed to get herself out of this situation and back to the others. Somehow, some way. She would make it work. She always did. Jongin was relying on her and she needed to alert the others about what happened. She assumed they were aware that something was going on anyway. They left for the market hours ago.

What did this person want with her? _Probably out of the picture,_ she thinks. She has been the one that's been hacking into their footage and exposing them. She knew they probably wouldn't be too grateful for that. She doesn't have many options and she certainly doesn't have many tools for her to utilize right now. Outrunning him seemed to be her best bet, but God knows she wasn't a track star. She could only run for so long before her limbs would start to break down from fatigue. She looks around before an idea pops into her head. She suddenly makes a sharp left, running into the forest that she had been trying to avoid. She risked becoming even more lost, but it was seeming to be her only choice. 

She wasn't a violent person. In fact, Yeon's never hurt anyone before. Yet the tree she's hiding behind and the rock she's gripping onto in her right hand says otherwise. She was in a compromising situation. It was either her or her kidnapper. Her eyes are squeezed shut as she's praying that the person will lose track of her and she won't have to use the rock that's in her hand. Things wouldn't go that way of course, especially when she hears a twig break in the distance from the pressure of shoes walking on it. She lets out a shaky breath, her forehead resting against the rough bark of the tree while she stares down at her soaked dirt covered shoes. The footsteps are growing closer and her heart is pounding against her ribcage. 

This was happening. It was going to happen. 

She catches a glimpse of a person five or six trees away from her, cautiously looking around for what she was assuming was her. The rain is only coming down harder, making it that much harder to see. "Yeon, be brave." She whispers to herself. "You have to do this. It's for your own safety." The hand the rock is in is trembling, a scream piercing the air when she looks back up to see the masked individual right in front of her.

She stumbles backward, tripping over twigs and rocks and falling onto the ground. This wasn't as smooth as Yeon was hoping for things to go. The masked individual approaches her slowly, calculated almost, while she tries to scramble away from the masked figure. There's something in their left hand, something that she didn't notice until now. It's a metal baseball bat and Yeon's sure that they plan on killing her with that. The thought sent shivers up her spine. She manages to get back onto her feet, darting in the opposite direction. She shouldn't have done this, this was a bad idea. Now she's trying to outrun a lunatic in a crowded forest, one that she knew nothing about. If anything, she was worse off in here than out by the road. Although at least this offered her more hiding spots, but that was about the only pro she could come up with in this situation. 

"Don't run from me." The voice calls out. It was definitely a man, no woman that Yeon knew of had a voice that deep. "Oni and Kura need new playmates." Yeon didn't like nor did she want to know what he was talking about. She didn't know who Oni or Kura were, and quite frankly, she didn't quite care to know. She didn't want to be anyone's playmate, let alone this man's. "I spared you. You should be thanking me."

Yeon didn't think she would be spared if she didn't get out of this situation soon. How was he going to spare her when carrying around that metal bat? She's running past several trees, not even sure where she was going anymore. All she knew was that no matter how far she ran the voice always seemed to be near her. It was unnerving. Her foot gets caught on a surface tree root, sending her crashing onto the wet and muddy ground. Her ankle is throbbing and she realizes that she might have sprained it. This isn't what she pictured happening. She can feel the presence of the man behind her, a deep breath leaving her as she turns around. He's hovering over her, metal bat in hand and despite him wearing a mask, she can still feel his piercing cold stare.

"No." She chokes out, moving back with her hands and feet. She didn't want to become whatever a playmate was and she certainly wasn't going to let him take her anywhere without her consent. She glances to her left, noticing a decent sized rock. She still didn't have a set plan in action, but she knew she was running out of time. Within seconds she's scrambling to her feet, reaching out and grabbing the rock. It's quick; she decks him in the head as soon as she gets the chance, her ankle throbbing under the pressure as she drops the bloodied rock into the muddy soil. She grabs his bat when he loses his balance, collapsing onto the ground beneath them. She couldn't kill him; that was just something she couldn't do. She needed answers from him too- but how would she bring him back to the dorms? She had no tape, no rope- only a bat. She couldn't knock him out each time he woke up- she'd just end up killing him. Along with that, how was she meant to carry a man twice her size? None of this was reasonable- none of this was logical. 

So she does the only thing she can think of: run away. Cowardly? Maybe. What else was she to do? Wait by his side until he wakes up? She throws the bat back into the dirt, running until her lungs physically demand her to stop. How could she get back to the dorms? Hell, how could she just get back to the market? She glances behind her while running.

_He was gone._

How was he already gone? This was a never ending nightmare. She feels something wrap around her ankle and with one harsh tug she's on the ground again within seconds, the taste of dirt and blood mixing together in her mouth. She turns slightly to see the man's bony fingers locked around her already swollen ankle. She manages to send a kick to his face with her free foot, wiggling out of his grasp after doing so. The kick was hard enough and he looked to be knocked out. She carefully pushes herself back up, running away for the last time.

 

Yeon doesn't know how long it's been. An hour? Three hours? A day? Her legs are on the verge of giving out and her lungs are on fire. It's difficult to breathe and Yeon thinks she might pass out any given second. It hurt. Everything hurt. But her determination to reach the dorms and tell everyone what happened to Jongin was enough to keep her going. At one point she can't feel her legs anymore and for a brief time she thinks she's floating, soaring through the clouds and above everyone else. She's untouchable and above everyone else. No one can outwit her. No one can out charm her.

But then she's brought back down to earth and painfully aware of her reality. Her legs are burning again and her vision is blurry. She's not soaring, but rather falling. Maybe she's already crashed. She doesn't know. She doesn't know. She doesn't--

Her legs suddenly buckle, giving out underneath her. She collapses onto the ground, still unsure as to where she is. It's no longer raining, the sun is out and peering down at her from behind the clouds. It's comforting. She can hear cars in the distance. She's close. There's buildings she can make out-- where is she? Her eyes are growing heavy and it's becoming increasingly harder to stay awake and navigate around. Her clothes are still wet but she's no longer cold. She's hot. She's here. Her hand reaches out, desperately trying to grab ahold of anything that she can, though she falls just short. She knows where she is now. She's back at the parking lot of the market. How did she get back here? Did she really run here? 

She tries to push herself back up, fighting off the sleep that's only feet away. She can see Minseok's car. If she could just get inside, maybe drive it back. Is she in the right mindset to drive? Debatable. She could argue that she is, while you might argue that she's not. She's crawling towards the car, though only a few feet away her body becomes heavier and heavier to pull. How could this be so hard? Why the fuck was no one here to help her? 

She lets out a frustrated cry, her tears blocking what was left of her vision. She's crawling across the parking lot; what if someone hits her? That's when she remembers about her business phone. She fishes around in her pocket, pulling out the small black phone and flipping it open. She keys around for Yixing's contact number. She presses down on the call button. Everything is becoming dark and by the time she hears a calming and familiar voice on the other end of the line she loses consciousness. 

 

The sun is setting and Kyungsoo is becoming more and more worried. He's already stepped out of the room to call the others, informing them that Jongin and Yeon left to pick up groceries and haven't returned. Chanyeol only thinks that Jongin got sick at the market and had to quick go back to the dorms without getting him anything. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up, especially when Junmyeon was spamming his phone every two and a half minutes. However, it's when Junmyeon calls with urgency in his voice that Kyungsoo has to excuse himself from Chanyeol's room to return home. 

His hands shakily grip his house keys, dropping them twice before managing to grip onto them hard enough and put them in the lock. After he's unlocked the door and inside, he walks in to see everyone in the living room, a thin and white envelope in Junmyeon's trembling hands. "What's going on..?" The words slowly die out on his tongue when he turns and sees Yeon lying on the couch, bloodied and bruised with Yixing tending to her. "Why isn't she in the hospital?" Is the first question that shoots from Kyungsoo's lips. "She needs to be in a hospital. We aren't fit to take care of her--"

"That's what we were about to do." Junmyeon speaks up. "But when we brought her inside, this fell from her pocket." He waves the envelope in his hand. "And it says that it's for us." 

"Can't we look at it after we bring Yeon to a hospital? What if she has a concussion or a broken bone?" Kyungsoo couldn't understand why for the life of him that no one was rushing Yeon out the door and to their car. 

"I'm fine." She croaks out from the couch. "I didn't even know I had that on me. I didn't notice." Her voice is weak and when she goes to sit up, Yixing carefully has her lie back down. 

"Then I'll open it so we can leave quicker." Kyungsoo hastily takes the envelope from Junmyeon's hands, quickly working his fingers and peeling back the top flap of it. Kyungsoo wasn't ready though. He was expecting it to be a simple letter, maybe a ransom note at most. What he wasn't expecting, however, were freshly taken polaroids of Jongin tied up, bloodied and bruised and in a dark room. He wasn't expecting to see the boy with his wrists tied together or to have a disorientated and frightened look in his eyes. His mind is blanking and panicking all at the same time as he stuffs the photographs back into the envelope. 

Junmyeon gives him a look of concern as he approaches the shorter male, trying to comfort him but Kyungsoo only shoves the envelope into his chest. Kyungsoo feels like he can't breathe. It's a repeat of Baekhyun all over again. They have to get the police involved. They have to inform Chanyeol. They have to bring Yeon to the hospital. Everything was happening so fast and he can feel his world crumbling apart all around him. 

He can hear a choked out sob from the right of him as Junmyeon thumbs through the photographs. Jongdae and Yixing are at Junmyeon's side within minutes, holding up their leader who's close to collapsing onto the floor. Sehun's staring off into space, a blank and empty look on his features as his mind takes in everything. Kyungsoo knows Sehun had been blaming himself recently about Baekhyun. It was possible that he'd be doing the same thing about Jongin now. A shaky sigh leaves him as he walks over to the taller, pulling him down and into a tight hug. He can feel his body start to shake and tremble when he wraps his arms around Sehun's waist before he breaks down into tears.

Luhan watches wordlessly, exchanging a look with Minseok who was clearly stunned. Neither of the two eldest knew what to say or how to make things better, so they only stood there, looking at each other helplessly. How could they take away the pain from their other members when they didn't even know what to do with their own pain? 

Yeon's sitting on the couch, her hands on her lap. She knew they took Jongin, but that doesn't mean that she was ready to see such photographs. A part of her wishes they kept her too, that way she could try and protect him from whoever their captors were. Why did they let her go? She closes her eyes as she leans her head back. 

How were they going to get out of this mess now?

_\---_

_A/N: ngl this is how i picture Yeon. what a bad ass girl. she's so smart TT TT honestly she's my favorite._

__

_short chapter i know, but i really just wanted to focus on yeon & the members. :) next chapter will be more jongin & 'kura' focused as well as why jongin was even kidnapped in the first place and why yeon was spared._


	17. Think Harder.

Jongin's glaring holes into the floor that lies beneath his bare feet. It's been six hours since he was first shown to his room by Baekhyun and once he stepped in, the other had closed the door behind him and locked it. He's not sure how long he's going to be in his room but it was starting to drive him insane. The room was small with one mattress in the corner of the room placed against a bare wall, a bowl of water on the floor as if he were some stray dog they found, a blanket, and that was that. The chain wrapped around his ankle was from the room he was in, rooted deeply into the cement wall. 

He's sitting blankly in the middle of his mattress with hundreds of thoughts running through his mind. Why was he here? Where was Yeon? Was she alive or was she dead? Why was that lady calling Baekhyun Kura and why wasn't he responding to him? Who's Jaeyul? Where was he? Did his members figure out that he was missing by now? He buries his face into his rough and callused hands as he tries to think of a way to escape. There were no windows in his room, but there was a vent. He wasn't sure how far he could get through that now considering he was still chained, but it was something that he would keep in the back of his mind. Maybe the vent led to freedom. Maybe the vent led to Rei's room. 

He jumps slightly when his door is pushed open after being unlocked, Baekhyun at the door with a tray of food. Would Jongin actually call it food though? It was a slice of what appeared to be white bread, a small cup of god knows what inside, and a fork. He wasn't sure what he would need the fork for since he only had a slice of bread.

"I brought you your meal." His voice is fragile and hoarse. It doesn't sound at all how Jongin remembered him to sound like. 

"Baekhyun, look--" He takes the tray from the other and places it down on the mattress beside him. "It's just the two of us right now. What's going on? Why did they take you and what are they doing to you? Why are they calling you Kura?" Baekhyun only remains silent, however, and instead gestures to the tray. 

"That's the only meal they're going to give to you today. You should eat it." His black hair is sticking out in random spots, some of it matted against the frame of his face from sweat. "They'll get mad if they see you didn't eat it too." He glances over to the tray by his side, carefully picking up the slice of bread with his thumb and index finger. He chokes back a gag when seeing mold growing on the other side of it. 

"They want me to eat moldy bread? Are they actually trying to kill me?" He drops the bread back onto the tray. 

"If I'm not hungry but don't want to get caught then I stuff my food in the vent." Baekhyun's awkwardly standing a few steps away from Jongin, rocking on the heels of his feet anxiously. "I gave you a fork." Jongin's about to remark regarding that, but Baekhyun interrupts him. "Keep it in your vent. You might need it for when Jaeyul decides to introduce himself to you. I keep a fork in my vent too." Jaeyul. That name rang a bell somewhere within him. He wasn't sure why but...something about that name just drew on familiarity. Something about Baekhyun's words sends a chill down his spine as he glances at the silver and shiny kitchen appliance. "To stab him with?" He whispers with wide eyes, leaning forward as if he were in disbelief. 

"I'm not saying that. Just...if you need to use it," There's something behind Baekhyun's eyes that Jongin can't quite make out and it worries him. What mad house has he been thrown into? What mad house has Baekhyun been living in? "It'll be there for you to use. Just...make sure he doesn't see it. Or Rei. Actually, make sure Rei doesn't see it." Jongin can't believe there was ever a time where he was naive enough to think that Rei was a normal and kind woman. _That'll teach me_ , he supposes. The two exhausted and on edge men can hear a door slam shut in the distance, a look of fear and terror immediately displayed on Baekhyun's face. "I need to go back to finish the chores--"

"Kura!" The voice is deep and loud, resonating throughout the walls of the building they were in. It was truly an intimidating voice. It sounded angry, too. He would hate to be the one caught in the crossfires of that, but Jongin had a feeling that's exactly what was going to happen. 

"If you hear anything, don't come out." He warns Jongin sternly. "Don't come out. Stay put." With that, Baekhyun closes his eyes and lets out a deep breath before turning on his heels and calmly walking out the room. 

From the distance, if he listened closely he could hear the same voice rising and speaking to Baekhyun. It was clear the other was yelling at him but he wasn't sure as to why. He can hear Rei in the background too, but her voice isn't as overpowering as the other person. If he listened really closely then he could hear a thud, something that sounded like a slap. Jongin jumps to his feet on instinct, but then Baekhyun's prior words come flooding back to him. 

_"If you hear anything, don't come out. Don't come out. Stay put."_

Why would he say that to him? Would this person kill him? What if he didn't know about him? He didn't think the person would be anyone that could save him, especially if he did actually slap Baekhyun. He feels a small rush of relief when he doesn't hear anymore conversation and Baekhyun's feet walking away, though the relief quickly turns to dread when he hears heavier footsteps coming towards his direction. He quickly grabs the fork and stashes it in the air vent; he couldn't have Baekhyun getting in trouble for this. Upon remembering what the other said earlier, he quickly downs his glass of water and quickly bites off a corner of the bread slice that wasn't moldy. He hoped it wouldn't get him sick anyway. 

He swallows the bread and water quickly as a man steps into the room. His clothes were drenched, shoes covered in mud and grass. He was wearing a mask, the same mask he saw in the video footage all those days ago. He takes a few steps back in an attempt to keep more space between them. There was dried blood on his mask. Where did that come from?

"You don't even know what you're here for, do you?" It's the same deep voice from just moments ago. Jongin can't help but to stare down at his dirty feet in response. This man just intimidated him. He had that aura around him. "Typical." The man scoffs. He takes the mask off and tosses it onto the floor, watching as it only bounces off the concrete floor slightly with the deafening sound echoing throughout the room. 

Should he look? Should he take the chance and see who took him? His curiosity and sanity were begging him to steal a glance, but at the same time what if he wasn't supposed to know what he looked like? What if he's killed for that? He decides, instead, that his feet are a far more interesting subject to stare at.

"Look at me." 

It takes a few seconds before Jongin looks up, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. The face was vaguely familiar but nothing that immediately jumped out at him. "You really don't remember. Just as distasteful as you were all those years ago." Jongin narrows his eyes as he tries to think back as to who this man was. He was tall; only a few inches taller than himself. He was only slightly tanner than Jongin with a pair of full lips. His eyes similar to Junmyeon's. Still, he couldn't recognize him. He had scratches on his face and on the side of his head was dried blood. His bottom lip was busted. 

Jongin decides to stay quiet as he didn't want to tempt his fate. He had no idea what kind of thing would set this man off. It's when the man takes a step towards him that Jongin takes another step back. "You really-- you really don't remember me? It must be easy to forget about the people you treat like shit, right?" Jongin raises an eyebrow at this. He never treated anyone poorly, even if they treated him bad. It was just something he couldn't bring himself to do. "Think harder, Jongin." His words are icy and detached as he glares down the other man. He wouldn't treat anyone like that unless...unless--

Oh.

_Oh._

"Jaeyul?" The man, Jaeyul, laughs loudly at this though there's no humor indicated in it. 

"So you remember me after all." His tone is flat as he shoots the other an accusing glare. "And yet you still don't know why you're here?" Jaeyul, the man standing in front of Jongin was the man that Baekhyun had been involved with for a few months before he disappeared. He's ultimately the man who caused Baekhyun's entire scandal. Jongin still never treated him poorly and the pair had never actually met before. At least, that's what Jongin had assumed. 

"No." Jongin decides to answer when Jaeyul's expression becomes annoyed. "I don't know why I'm here. We don't know each other. We never talked, we--"

"Exactly. We never met before, yet you still thought it was your job to tell Baekhyun to leave me." Jongin purses his lips into a thin line. He remembers now. He was the member that talked Baekhyun into leaving Jaeyul when Baekhyun confided in him. Jaeyul by nature was a clingy person, but Jongin thought he was just a little too clingy for someone that Baekhyun should be with. He was always calling his phone, leaving him several voicemails, always texting him whenever he could-- yet he at the same time he claimed that they were only friends with benefits? He acted like an obsessed and jealous ex-husband. Jongin didn't think it was healthy, especially when Baekhyun had no romantic feelings for Jaeyul, nor did he have the time to be in a committed relationship. 

Baekhyun told Jongin that Jaeyul never had romantic feelings too, but then one night he confessed his feelings and Baekhyun bailed. He went straight to Jongin about it and it was then, after a long and deep conversation that Jongin talked him into ending things with the other male. He never thought things would escalate like this though. According to Baekhyun he never messaged him after that, never called him, never made an attempt to hang out. He couldn't understand what was happening. Apparently the confusion on Jongin's face was funny to Jaeyul. 

"You just couldn't let the two of us be happy, could you? We had something great and you had to ruin it. Put your two cents in it." His voice grows darker as he speaks, a feeling forming in Jongin's gut. "He wouldn't have left me if you didn't tell him to."

"He didn't leave you. You two weren't together in the first place. You can't be left by something you never had." His tongue works quicker than his brain and common sense. The rage in Jaeyul's eyes is undeniable, but Jongin was beginning to have the same emotion. "How could you do this to someone you supposedly care about? You can't just kidnap and torture someone because they don't feel the same way about you. That's mad!" He shouts angrily. To think that this was the real reason Baekhyun went through the emotional abuse. The stalking, the harassment, being physically assaulted and taken away from his home-- everything was falling into place in front of him and it was almost too much to handle. There's still a decent amount of space between the two, but not enough for Jongin to feel safe or comfortable. 

"Why are you calling him Kura? That's not his name." Jaeyul laughs at this, as if Jongin had just said something stupid. "You think I don't know that his name wasn't Baekhyun? The whole damn world knew that his name was Baekhyun. But now," Jaeyul sighs as he looks around the barren room, "now he's my type. I wanted Baekhyun, but I was tired of his personality. He was too loud, too obnoxious. He always played the victim; he'd act like he cared about you and then just walk all over you. I changed him. I gave him a new name. I gave him a new personality. Now he's the perfect lover." Jongin feels like gagging at this. This couldn't be happening right now. What the fuck was actually wrong with this guy? "And now you," he waves a finger in Jongin's direction, "I'm going to change you too. I'm going to make you into the most supporting friend I could ever ask for. And that starts with changing your name. It's Oni." 

Jongin doesn't know what to say. He's just staring at Jaeyul as if he has two heads. He might as well have two heads. "You can't just change my name. My name is Jongin--" He's gagging and doubling over in pain before he can finish his next sentence. His hands grip at the thin shirt covering him, clawing at the fabric as he falls onto the floor. Jaeyul had kneed him in the stomach.

"It will get worse than that if you disobey me again. You're living under my roof so you'll be following my rules. I hope that won't be a problem for you." His tone is laced with venom as he stares down at the pained man. "If that is a problem for you, well, I'm sure you wouldn't mind Kura taking your punishments instead." His tone is sickingly sweet and it makes Jongin want to throw up. "Kura will come get you when dinner is ready." He can't help but chuckle when the other looks up. "Don't get your hopes up. You're simply preparing dinner for Rei and I. You'd be wise to make a good meal; my sister doesn't tolerate poor quality food. She's worse than me sometimes." 

The door is slammed shut and Jongin is once again left alone. He squeezes his eyes shut as he tries to ignore the pain in his abdomen, though the constant throbbing is becoming harder and harder to ignore. He needed to think of a way out and quick. If only Yeon were here to help him through this or Junmyeon to give him his leader-like advice. 

Wait.

_Baekhyun._

He might have just thought of an idea. 

 

Junmyeon's posture is straight and his lips pursed into a thin line as he watches his manager anxiously pace around inside Yeon's hospital room. He looks up to say something to Junmyeon, though instead just continues to pace around. He stops briefly, staring with wide eyes, "How could you-- when did you-- why would you--" He continues to pace once again, never actually getting a full and complete sentence out. 

Over the last four hours, Junmyeon had effectively gotten his manager, SM, and the police involved with everything that was going on. It was now known that Jongin was missing (though not to the public as it would cause a mass panic, their publicists were figuring something out in the meantime as well as making sure Jongin's photos didn't leak anywhere) and that Chanyeol had been hospitalized because of the stress of Baekhyun's disappearance. A conscious decision was made that Chanyeol would not be informed about Jongin yet, but he would still have to be told before it was made known to the public or should he see it on his social media accounts. 

Yongmin finally stops pacing, taking in a deep breath before facing EXO's leader. "Why would you think that this was a good idea? Did you not think of the consequences? You have this poor, unknown girl in the hospital who was nearly killed, your member in the hospital on the verge of cardiac arrest, and now another member missing. As a leader, did you not sit down and think about everything that could go wrong?" He's nearly shouting at this point with his mind a scrambled mess. He just honestly cannot believe that this went on without his knowledge. Yongmin feels like slamming his head into a wall at this point. 

Junmyeon decided to just stand there and take it rather than fight back with the man. It was his right to be angry about everything. He supposed he would be too if he were in his position. "You put everyone's lives at risk with decision. You couldn't just let the police do their job? You aren't policemen for a reason, Junmyeon!"

"They weren't doing anything! All we had to do was get into Baekhyun's room once and we found evidence on his laptop! What police force doesn't even take a look at the victim's laptop?" He quickly defends himself. "Everything we found, they could have found. But no, instead we had to bring in Luhan, bring in Yeon, travel to China for video footage, rip our mental states apart to piece together only half of the puzzle! And now we have a member missing which means we're close, Yongmin. It means we're so close to finding out what happened if there was a need for Jongin to get kidnapped and Yeon to get attacked. Instead of yelling at me about how I'm the cause of everything bad, why don't you sit down and think about how fucked it is that we had to do something instead of our own law enforcement." He's seething, chest rising and falling quickly as he glares at his manager. "But don't worry, Yongmin. They'll put effort into finding Jongin now because he isn't gay. Or at least, not that they can prove." The words fly of his tongue as he shouts, a hand running through his run down hair. 

"And to be honest, maybe you're doing the right thing by keeping me from talking to our lovely enforcement officers right now because I have a thing or two that I'd love to say to them." Yeon watches silently from her hospital bed, a soft sigh leaving her lips as she stares down at her hands. She's glad Junmyeon was here. Before he came in Yongmin had snuck in to talk her out of any possible law suit she'd throw onto the company. She could only scoff in response. 

"It doesn't matter if they put in effort or not, Junmyeon! You cannot go all vigilante on the Korean Republic because you think there was an injustice done to Baekhyun. You have the responsibility, the sole responsibility to keep the rest of your members safe and from what I can tell," he laughs loudly as he takes a step back, swinging his arm around as he gestures to the hospital they're standing in, "three people. Three people are the causalities for your decisions, Junmyeon." He runs a hand over his face before sitting himself down on a chair for visitors. "What if they can't find Jongin, huh? What if it's another cold case like Baekhyun's? Or what if they do find Jongin but he's dead? Do you understand what might legally happen to you if Jongin is killed?" His tone is firm and serious, the wrinkles settling in the skin of his forehead, showing an older man who's beyond stressed and the bags under his eyes showing the sleepless night he had prior to this. He folds his hands together in his lap, eyes cast downwards onto his polished dress shoes. "Even if you didn't suggest this idea, you are the leader of the group. The parental figure, if you will. You will still be held responsible to a certain degree in a court. Luhan, Minseok, and Kyungsoo would be brought to court as well, although I'm seeing it likely that Luhan and Minseok would get the brute of the sentencing."

"How is that even possible? We didn't kidnap Baekhyun and we didn't kidnap Jongin! Jongin was already being stalked--"

"And you went out and found the footage of that. The kidnapper found out and took him as a result. You tampered with evidence--"

"Do you hear yourself right now?" Junmyeon wants to laugh and cry at the same time.

"--and let's not forget that you broke into Baekhyun's parents home and stole his items, which at the very least you could face charges for that mind you. On top of that you went against the police force and investigated a case that was off limits. You know how illegal it is to be a vigilante here. And you're working with a woman who hacks people for a living. I can't even think of a place where that would be legal. You're working with an established criminal." Yongmin's eyes look like they're about to pop out of his head at this point. Junmyeon can hear Yeon scoff silently in the background. He forgot she was here for a minute. "More importantly, I think you're failing to realize that you are taunting an extremely dangerous and hidden individual. I mean my god, they snuck into Minseok's car and pepper sprayed Yeon before tasering her, and then bludgeoned Jongin in the head according to her recollection. And then they chased her through the woods in the middle of no where? Junmyeon, you're messing with a lunatic. A deranged lunatic who has made it clear that they don't care who they hurt."

Junmyeon was fucked. He's never once smoked a cigarette in his life, though just this once he thought he could make an exception for it. "You're lucky Lee Soo Man is supporting you for this. You're lucky he didn't just disband EXO on the spot." 

"Are you finished?" Junmyeon asks after a minute of silence passes through the room. "Are you done scolding me as if I'm a child? You scolding me won't change anything. We're going to find out what happened to Baekhyun one way or another, whether you're willing to help me or not. I think the rest of us, along with myself, have made it a point that we will do this on our own if we have to. So if you're finished, you can kindly leave. I don't care what you have to say anymore. And you know what?" Junmyeon knew he was about to say things that he would regret the following morning, but maybe just this once he'll allow himself to say what he truly feels. Just this once. "Fuck you. I'm tired of you and all the shit you put onto me. You're never happy with what I do and instead you blame me for everything, even if i had no say in it at all. I don't regret what happened because you're yelling at me for it, I only regret things because of Jongin, Chanyeol, and Yeon. That's it. Not because you're telling me that I should regret it. You won't guilt me into apologizing. We did what no one else was willing to do." He grabs his bag from the chair, bidding Yeon a farewell. "The next time you wish to speak to me it'll be in court." He replies curtly before leaving Yongmin and Yeon alone in the hospital room. 

\---

_A/N: is it illegal to be a vigilante in korea? i don't know tbh but i'm making the rules for this because plot lmao we already know this isn't accurate to real life anyway so i mean also junmyeon clapped back. and can i just say that i don't feel this way about yongmin lmao _

_idk why i apologized for the last chapter being short when 4.3k is roughly my average and most chapters are 3.7k words lol so never mind that was a normal length chapter_


	18. Never trust a liar

_January 3, 2018; 3:45AM_

Baekhyun slips on his shoes by the front door, his bag snug on his arm. The living room was quiet, something Baekhyun was never quite used to. Through the curtains hung up on the windows thin streams of light shone in from the moon outside. It was peaceful, calming almost. It was completely contrasting to what he was feeling inside. His heart was hammering against his ribcage, a sweat breaking out on his forehead, and his pulse fast. His fingers were shaking as he dug around for his keys in his bag. Would he drive there? He said it would be within walking distance. 

He was nervous and on the edge of having a panic attack. He knew that it was Jaeyul who had been harassing him the last several months. It wasn't anything new or surprising to him. Jaeyul tried to keep his identity secret on some kind of level, but the anonymous messages, the altered voicemails-- they were all worded the same way Jaeyul would word his old text messages. Jaeyul said he wasn't upset with Baekhyun ending things but his actions contradicted his words. He knew he leaked the pictures to the media. Now he was harassing his other band mates? 

A soft sigh leaves his pink lips. Not exactly how he planned to spend his time off, let alone at nearly four in the morning. He had everything planned. He would kindly tell Jaeyul to fuck off, rough him up a little if he had to, and then come back home. That was it. He wasn't sure why he wanted to meet up in the first place-- to yell at him? Rough _him_ up? His shaky fingers grab the keys in his bag, his free hand unlocking the front door and pulling it open. 

He startles and visibly jumps when bumping into someone. "Baekhyun?" He lets out a sigh of relief when seeing that it was only Junmyeon, shiny keys dangling in his hand. He must be returning from his shoot. Tonight would have been so much better if they just went to the damn movies. He forces a smile on his lips, though it just comes off as skittish and nervous. Junmyeon picks up on it immediately. "What are you up to?" Baekhyun knew how odd he must've looked leaving the dorms so late and with such an anxious expression. He really was shit at hiding things. 

"I, uh, I'm meeting with a friend."

"At nearly four in the morning?" Junmyeon's tired and Baekhyun can easily point out the dark bags under his eyes. His shoot must have been a nightmare. He didn't want to burden his leader more than he had to. After all, he's expecting to be back by morning. "Is it really a friend?" His voice was skeptical and Baekhyun wasn't sure why that rubbed him the wrong way. Not that he could blame Junmyeon after the secret rendezvouses he had been doing for the last few months. 

"I'll be back soon. They've been having a rough night. I might take them out for some food." He brushes off Junmyeon's question. He couldn't let him pry too much, he didn't have much of the story planned out. He might end up exposing himself if he isn't careful. 

"Be careful, Baekhyun. It's late and there's weird people that wander the streets. What if something happens to you?" Baekhyun groans at this. Even now he was getting the "motherly lecture" that Junmyeon often gave the members. "Do you have mace on you? If you place your keys in between your fingers you can use them as a weapon. In case someone tries to jump you or anything." Junmyeon goes to open his mouth to speak more, though Baekhyun notices a falter in his confidence and he quickly shakes his head. "Just don't be out too long." He gives Baekhyun a gentle pat on his shoulder before stepping around the other and heading inside.

"I'll be back by the morning." He calls out before making his way down the front steps. He pulls onto his winter coat tightly, his shaky and cold fingers burying themselves into his pockets. The hammering of his heart against his own chest was becoming impossible to ignore and it was starting to get on his own nerves. What would he do if it wasn't Jaeyul? Jaeyul was bad enough, but he knew the other wouldn't hurt him. Someone else? Who knew what they would do to him.

He checks his phone for any messages, sighing when not seeing any. Where the hell were they supposed to even meet up? They should have discussed this before--

Two hands sneak up behind Baekhyun, immediately covering his mouth and pulling him into a back alleyway. He tries to fight them off on instinct, though the person seemingly wasn't budging. He sends a hard kick to the person behind him, feeling his foot collide with someone's knee. It felt painful and he must have been right when the person lets go and swears loudly. He spins around on his feet quickly, eyes widening when seeing Jaeyul. 

"Jaeyul, what the fuck are you doing?" He shouts and shoves the man harshly. "Why have you been doing this to me? I was _nice_ to you."

"Nice. If that's what you call it." The other scoffs in response. "Victim complex as always." He sneers and takes a step closer to the shorter male. "You humiliated me--"

"No one knew who you were, Jaeyul. How were you humiliated when it was _my_ face that was plastered everywhere? The media never did anything to you; the public never did anything to you!" He shoves the other away once more. "And now you're stalking me like a low-life loser? And harassing my group members? What the fuck did they ever do to you, huh?" Baekhyun shoves him once again. All the pent up frustration he's been dealing with for the last several months was finally at its boiling point. "I never thought you'd stoop to something so pathetic." 

It's as if those words struck something within Jaeyul because as soon as the words left Baekhyun's lips, Jaeyul had him shoved against the brick wall. "You never gave me a chance. I did so much for you and the moment I slipped up you ditched me." Baekhyun's struggling against Jaeyul's hold but his grip his tight. "You wanted nothing to do with me whenever one of your members would ask about me. You acted like I didn't exist. Do you know how hard it is to be treated like trash?"

"Of course I know what it's like--" 

"I didn't ask you to speak." His voice is loud out of nowhere and Baekhyun's heart is starting to slam against his chest. This wasn't how he pictured things going. He was hoping they'd talk it out. 

"So what is it that you're trying to accomplish with all of this? Scare me?" Baekhyun stomps on the other's foot, slipping out of his grip when Jaeyul swears loudly and takes a step back. "Because you aren't. I'll take you to the police myself with everything you've been doing. You've been stalking me, harassing me, harassing my group mates. I have proof of you stalking me. I have audio, pictures of you snooping around, I have witness accounts from other members. And, now you've gotten physical with me. Police only act on stalking cases and accusations once the stalker gets physical. You dragging me into a fucking alleyway is physical, Jaeyul!" Baekhyun can see his breath forming in the air around him as he shouts. However, it's when he sees a light spark in Jaeyul's eyes does he realize he might have played his cards wrong. Since when did victims outright tell their attackers or killers that they were going to report them? Isn't that the opposite of what he's supposed to do? 

"Except I wouldn't." It's fruitless to speak now; he's already dug his own grave. Every cell in his body is screaming at him to run, run and never look back yet his feet stay rooted in place on the snowy ground. He's suddenly aware of all of his surroundings. The howling wind that's cold and dry against his skin, the snow flurries falling from the sky and collecting on the ground and roofs of the surrounding buildings, how heavy his feet feel in the snow, the sound of the car engines in the distance, the water collecting by the street drains from the melting snow, and the wild and angered look in Jaeyul's eyes. He remembers what Junmyeon told him earlier about his keys. He carefully repositions the keys in his hands so that he has one sticking out between his numb and cold fingers--he had a lot of keys-- and takes a cautious step back. "Why don't we just talk this out, Jaeyul? We can act like civil adults about this. It doesn't need to end this way." 

Jaeyul laughs bitterly in response. "It does. It does need to end this way." Baekhyun knew he was in trouble. He knew that whatever was about to happen, he needed to leave evidence. Fingerprints, hair, marks, something. A dry choke leaves him when he sees Jaeyul pull a knife from his pocket. Did his keys even compare at this point? He turns on his heels and makes a run for it. Back to the dorms. That's all he needed to do. Once he got there he could inform the members, call the police, let everyone know. He could put all of this behind him. 

He lets out a scream when he's pushed down and into the sidewalk, mud and snow mixing together. He turns his head to the side to avoid being suffocated by the dirty snow, struggling against Jaeyul's hold as if his life depended on it. Technically it did. 

Evidence. He needs to leave something behind. Was he going to stab him out here? In the open? He'd bleed everywhere. Jaeyul was reckless but he wasn't stupid. He grabs a handful of snow, twisting and turning so he can reach up and slam the snow into his face. He catches him off guard and Jaeyul rolls over, quickly brushing the cold and frozen snow off his face. Baekhyun's scrambling to his feet, though the ground is slippery and he's the current spitting image of Bambi learning to walk on ice. 

A hand on his ankle yanks him back down, pulling him towards Jaeyul as he tries to claw away from the other. He sends a kick to Jaeyul's chin, cringing when feeling the contact against his shoe. He was never a man who supported violence. Not in real life or in movies. He couldn't handle blood, the gore. He didn't have much of a choice right now though. He lets out a pained scream when feeling a sharp pain in the back of his leg. He glances back to see the knife now bloodied and in Jaeyul's deadly grip. He stabbed him in the back of his leg. Maybe he was stupid enough to let him bleed everywhere. He forces himself up and limps away as quickly as his body can muster. He's leaving a blood trail of course. Maybe it'll be here by morning, maybe it'll melt away with the snow. He grips on to a mailbox that's placed outside of a closed store, leaning over it and breathing heavily as he tries to steady himself. What was he supposed to do now? He ran further from the dorms than he was supposed to. Warm and hot tears from around his eyes as he squeezes them shut tight, the pain from his leg only becoming worse. He never knew it would hurt this much to be stabbed.

"Junmyeon," he cries out. He knew it was a long shot, there was no way the other would hear his pleas. Still, he couldn't help but cry out his leader's name anyway. Why did he agree to meet up with Jaeyul? Maybe he deserved this. After all, one could say that he willingly put himself in this situation, right? 

Everything is beginning to grow hazy, his vision starting to blur as he pushes himself off and away from the mailbox. He needed to find help. He just needed someone that wasn't Jaeyul. Up the street he can see the figure of what appears to be a woman. On a normal situation he wouldn't want to drag a woman into this, especially against a crazed man that's wielding a knife but Baekhyun was low on options. Upon glancing back he can see Jaeyul slowly trailing after him as if a he were a predator taunting his prey. Baekhyun supposes that's what he is. 

He limps faster while calling out for help. His voice is broken and hoarse and he feels only seconds away from collapsing. Did Jaeyul stab him somewhere vital? He couldn't tell how much blood he was losing. The woman, however, turns around when hearing his pleas for help. She looked trusting. She was short and petite, a blue ribbon in her raven black hair that was pulled back into a neat bun. She was wearing a blue dress that stopped around her knees, something that Baekhyun found odd as it was winter. Was she not cold? Maybe he was just hallucinating. 

She immediately takes a step back when he collapses on to the ground in front of her, scoffing silently as she stares down at him. "You almost got blood on my shoes." 

 

 

"Seriously?" Minseok deadpans while staring at their leader. "You told Yongmin that the next time he wants to speak to you it'll be in court? Junmyeon, he's our manager!" 

"I'm sorry! I panicked." Junmyeon whines as he covers his face in embarrassment. "I also said he could kindly leave and then promptly left instead. This whole thing is so embarrassing." He only whines more when hearing Jongdae cackling from somewhere behind him. "I know it wasn't my proudest moment but I was just so angry." He sighs. The group were huddled together in Chanyeol's hospital room, watching as the rain outside bounces off the roof and slides down the windows. It was a stormy day, one that matched most of their moods in one way or another. "He did say though," Junmyeon clears his throat as he looks over at Minseok, Luhan, and Kyungsoo. "That, uh," he freezes mid-sentence when realizing that Chanyeol was staring at him intently. "Can we speak in the hall?"

Junmyeon really only meant that for Luhan, Minseok, and Kyungsoo but the rest of the members (excluding Chanyeol) ended up following them out into the hall as well. "When should we end up telling Chanyeol about Jongin? He's going to get suspicious." Sehun asks from behind Jongdae and Kyungsoo. "Jongin usually visits him and he's been gone for a bit. He's going to know that something's up." 

"We'll tell him when he's in a more stable condition." Junmyeon states gently. "But it'll have to be soon. Now that SM and the police know, it won't be long until they have to inform the public and Jongin's family. We'll probably have to tell him within the next day or two."

"Even if he's not stable?" Sehun sounds and looks concerned. Junmyeon couldn't blame him though.

"We'll think of something." Kyungsoo offers him gently. "We'll worry about it when the time comes, Sehun. Junmyeon, what did you want to talk about out here?"

"Yongmin said that we could be held responsible for whatever happens to Jongin. Legally responsible." He clears his throat and lowers his voice to make sure that Chanyeol can't hear from inside his room. The man had unnaturally good hearing. 

"How is that even possible?" Luhan asks with a raised eyebrow. "We didn't kidnap him and we certainly didn't attack Yeon." He scoffs as he crosses his arms over his chest. "I'd like to see them try to charge us with anything. Not our fault that we were more willing to do their job than they were." He speaks quickly, his accent coming to light the angrier he gets. 

"What kind of legal trouble?" Yixing asks cautiously. 

"He said that Luhan, Minseok, and Kyungsoo would get the brute of the punishment since they were the three who came up with the idea to search for Baekhyun on our own. I'd get punished as well since I'm the leader and therefore have responsibility over everyone with the exception of Luhan and Yeon. Yeon and Yixing might fall into legal troubles as well, though for Yeon it would mostly be because of her... uh, choice of work." Junmyeon's anxiously fiddling with his fingers as he speaks. Why was he always the one to break the bad news? He supposes that just comes naturally with being the leader of a group. "This is only if Jongin is found dead. Or if his case becomes like Baekhyun--"

"So if the police are too lazy to look for Jongin we get in trouble?" Luhan deadpans. "That sounds great. I'm sure they'll work just as hard to find him." The distaste for the police force is clear on his face. "Who knows? Maybe they'll actually look for him. It's not like he ever publicly came out as gay." Yixing places a comforting hand on Luhan's lower back to keep the other from throwing himself into an episode in the middle of the hospital's hall. 

"We'll worry more about that when the time comes." Yixing speaks calmly. "As for now, we need to work with the police and try and find both Jongin and Baekhyun. The police will be forced to take this seriously one way or another, especially when the public finds out that Jongin has been kidnapped." Before Junmyeon or any of the other remaining members can comment further, their attention is taken by their tall and wide eyed member who's standing in the doorframe of his room. 

 _"Jongin was kidnapped?"_  

\---

_A/N: Sorry for the late update. I've been busy with changing my major (I know, rip) and all the shit that comes with it. Stressful time, my dudes._

_and yeah, this is kind of a cliffhanger. but there's another chapter coming after this one late tonight or tomorrow so calm down my lovely children. ;;u;_


	19. Hold my hand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Happy Friday 13th y'all

 

Jongin's stomach growls as he lies down on the stiff and musty mattress in his room, if one could even call it a room. His ankle is becoming sore and the surrounding skin raw from the shackle rubbing up against his skin whenever he walks around. He adjusts himself so that he's now lying on his back, staring up at the moldy and stained ceiling. He needed to get Baekhyun alone. 

His plan, the one that he has yet to act out, mostly consists of Baekhyun. He needs Baekhyun to map out the place for him. Since he's been here longer it would make sense that he'd memorize the house size and what door leads where. At least that's what he was hoping for. If he could get Baekhyun to map out the place, maybe Jongin would be able to come up for a way for the two to escape. He already had the vents in mind, they'd just need to find a way to get the chains off their ankles. That part might be the hardest, he's sure that Rei and Jaeyul had already thought of all the different ways they could try to get them off. 

A soft sigh leaves him as he turns onto his side, now facing the cement wall. He wasn't sure how long he could live here. He's not sure how Baekhyun's managed to live here for so long without going completely insane. His fingertips tap alongside the edge of the mattress, his eyebrows furrowed as he tries to come up with something. How could he get these chains off? Once they were off the rest was golden. Him and Baekhyun were definitely thin enough to get into the vents-- as long as the vents led somewhere safe. He'd have to ask Baekhyun that. He's sure the other surveyed the vents at least once before. 

He jolts up when hearing his door open, afraid that Jaeyul would somehow be able to read his thoughts. 

"You shouldn't look so guilty. You'll make Jaeyul or Rei think you actually did something wrong." It's Baekhyun, speak of the devil. "You did a good job with serving them dinner tonight." He lingers by the doorway, though ultimately closes the door and steps in. Maybe he wanted privacy, though his chains gave him away. There was no such thing as privacy here. 

"Thanks." Jongin mutters under his breath. "Hey, can I talk to you?" He's not sure why he's asking if he can talk to him. He's never done that before. "How well do you know this place?" He asks when Baekhyun nods his head. "Do you know where the vents lead to?" Baekhyun looks skeptical, eyeing the other carefully as if he's afraid of giving away too much information. "We can't stay here forever, Baekhyun. You can't stay here forever. This place is insane. One day either Rei or Jaeyul will snap and kill us. They've had you for two years. I think they've made it clear that they won't let either of us go." 

Baekhyun shifts uneasily in his spot as he glances around the room unsurely. "We shouldn't be talking about this." He whispers anxiously. "If Rei or Jaeyul find out that we've been talking about this..." His voice trails off as he thinks about all the possible punishments in store for the two of them. 

"But we can't wait here like sitting ducks. Don't you miss freedom? You don't belong here, Baekhyun. All you did was turn someone down. That's not a life sentence." There's a sadness in Jongin's voice as he speaks, laced with a hint of anger as well. "And when we get out we can report them. They can't get away with something like this." He purses his lips into a thin line as he thinks about their options. Baekhyun looked awful. His mental state was understandably ruined, Jongin even wondered if it was repairable. His physical state on the other hand was even worse. Jongin knew Baekhyun was reaching the end of his limits. He's seen sick; he's seen his grandfather die of illness and Baekhyun had a similar look to his grandfather on his final days. No, Baekhyun wasn't dying of an illness like his grandfather, but he could tell that Baekhyun wasn't made to live in an environment like this. No one was. He needed to get him out of here, even if that meant risking his own life. Jongin would do anything for Baekhyun. We are one, right?

"Baekhyun, I will do all the hard work. If we get caught then I will take the fall." His words are sincere. Jongin didn't want Baekhyun getting into any trouble because of him. "I just need you to map out the house. I'll figure out how we can cut the chains loose and then we can get through the vents." Baekhyun's hesitant and looking around the room before finally making eye contact with him. 

"Only because," he sighs heavily as he tucks some hair behind his hair, "only because I don't want you being exposed to the things that I've been exposed to. Rei and Jaeyul can be nightmares. Rei especially. I thought Jaeyul was fucked in the head before this but Rei...she takes it to a new level." He wraps his thin and frail arms around himself, shuddering at the thought of her. "Do you want to know something funny?" 

"What?" Jongin looks up slightly, an eyebrow arched as he tries to think what could possibly be funny in this moment. 

"Before you came here I forgot that my name wasn't Kura." Jongin narrows his eyes and furrows his eyebrows slightly as he thinks over what the other just said. "When you're continuously called something else for two years and you never hear your birth name, you forget that you don't go by what they call you." He pulls at the ripped fabric of his shirt. "But then I saw you and I could barely recognize you. Not because you changed or anything-- you look the same, actually. It had been so long and everything about my past life seemed to be just a dream at this point. But then you called my name and it's like everything hit me for a split second." His eyes widen as he speaks and Jongin can see the animated Baekhyun he used to know come back while he watched the other use his hands and arms while he spoke. 

"I'm sorry this happened to you." Jongin can feel a familiar wetness at his eyes as he quickly blinks away the tears. "If I didn't stick my nose into things, if I didn't tell you that you should leave Jaeyul...I feel like this wouldn't have happened." He raises a hand and wipes away the tears that stream freely down his flushed cheeks. "It wasn't my business and I made these calls without knowing him. I didn't know how personal he would take something like this. This is my fault." Jongin didn't need anyone to talk him out of this. Baekhyun could tell him a thousand times and then some that he had nothing to do with anything that happened, but his situation now spoke louder than words. He's clearly at least somewhat responsible for what happened. He shouldn't have made these decisions without knowing the kind of person that Jaeyul is. He should have taken Baekhyun's concerns more seriously. 

He feels a pair of hands on his cheeks, long and dainty fingers brushing away the tears that fall from his face. "Ah, Jongin," Baekhyun sighs as he sits crouched in front of the younger man, "this had nothing to do with you. I would have left Jaeyul one way or another. He would have taken it just the same, except maybe I'd still be here alone." Even in a time like this, Baekhyun was still acting like an older brother to him. Jongin had no idea how he could remain so strong. All he wanted to do was cry and he'd been here for what--- a day? A week? He wasn't really sure. The timeline was becoming blurry for him. The point is, Baekhyun's been here for two years and he was still handling this better than him. Maybe because he was used to the horrors here. "I know that this is a scary place, Jongin." His fingers comb through his messy hair, brushing out all the knots. "But we'll get out of here. I promise." His voice is gentle as he speaks, his skin flushed and pale as his shaky hands retract from the other. "Meet me tomorrow in my room. It's two halls over. We'll meet up at eleven at night; both Rei and Jaeyul are asleep by then. I'll help you draw out a map. I just need you to sneak a pen and paper for me and we'll be set. I know this place like the back of my hand. The hardest part will just be finding something to get these," he lifts his foot slightly, "off. Rei and Jaeyul keep all the knives and other sharp objects stashed. They only use them when they want to." As he finishes speaking he's back on his feet, taking a few steps back. "I'll see you tomorrow night, okay? Be lowkey about it. They will kill you if they find out. And if they don't...you'll wish they had. Oh, and Jongin?" Jongin looks up when Baekhyun calls him. "You need to call me Kura around them, and I need to call you Oni. It's to avoid punishments." And with his last warning, Baekhyun opens the door and slips out without another word.

 

A pen and paper. That's all Jongin needed to find. It should be easy, yet Jongin has no idea where anything in this damned house was. Not to mention that he had to carefully navigate around so that Rei or Jaeyul wouldn't catch him. He didn't have any chores right now (he had finished their laundry and he wasn't on kitchen duty with Baekhyun yet) and when there was no chores, Baekhyun and him were told specifically to stay in their rooms. And here he was, snooping around the living area for a pen and paper. He's trying to be as careful and quiet as possible, extremely aware of his own two feet as he scans the couches and cushions, shelves, drawers, etc. for a pen and paper. Maybe if he could find an office he could find paper? Where there was a printer there was paper. Then again, snooping in an office seemed impossible. Baekhyun informed him earlier that Jaeyul was almost always in his office and that it was located right next to his bedroom. 

His eyebrows furrow at that. Baekhyun said his room was two halls away, and the office, as to Jongin's knowledge, is also two halls away. Could it be that Jaeyul forces Baekhyun to share a room with him? That would make sense, after all Jaeyul's fucked in the head. Jongin chuckles to himself when referring to the man as fucked in head. But still, it could be possible. Jaeyul still refers to Baekhyun as his lover. He shivers at the thought of that. He was hoping that he was wrong. 

"Pen, pen, pen, pen, pen..." He groans quietly as he gives up in the living area. The office would be out of question. He wasn't willing to risk his life over a piece of paper and a pen. He'd have to get creative. He peers around the corner and into the dining area. He swears under his breath when seeing Rei sitting at the table and playing on her phone. The kitchen was behind the dining area, but he needed to be quiet and dragging a chain around kind of made that difficult. He was a good dancer; he had good balance. Jongin knew he could do this if he tried hard enough. He takes in a deep breath and takes a quiet step towards the kitchen. He could do this, he knew he could. He just needed to be smart about this. 

She's enthralled with whatever she's doing on her phone and doesn't seem to notice any noise from him. This is good, but he isn't sure how long she'll be captivated by her phone. He takes another step toward the kitchen. The dining table was right across from the kitchen. All she had to do was look up and she'd be able to see him. He was hiding in plain sight essentially. He felt as if he were walking on a tightrope or on a lake covered with a thin sheet of ice and it was terrifying. Did he mention that he was wearing cleats on the said thin sheet of ice? About as graceful as one can be with a giant chain locked on their ankle. 

He makes another step and his heart is racing in his chest as he keeps his eyes locked on her. Would she notice his gaze? He quickly averts his eyes when realizing that she might sense his intense stare. Instead he stares straight ahead, a sweat breaking on his forehead. He was overthinking this. He could definitely do this. He closes his eyes and lets out a deep breath. He decides to take a bigger step, carefully side eyeing Rei before taking another large step. He was almost there. Three steps from the kitchen and then he was golden. At least for the time being. He looks back to Rei. She's still on her phone, though this time she seems to be typing. A message, a tweet, god only knows what. 

He takes the next three steps with ease, letting out a sigh of relief when in the kitchen. He scans the counters hastily, gasping quietly when seeing what he was looking for. Napkins. It would have to serve the role of paper since Jongin was not about to throw himself into Jaeyul's office. He just wasn't. He grabs a handful of napkins, stuffing them into the front of his pants (don't judge him, he had no pockets-- what's a man to do?). Could he find a pen in the kitchen too? It seemed like a long shot but he was willing to take the extra few seconds to look. He quietly and carefully moves around the kitchen, his eyes scanning every surface around him. He puffs his cheeks out with air when not seeing anything for him to write with. No pen, no pencil, no highlighter, no crayon. Nothing. 

He stumbles over his chain as luck would have it, causing him to crash into the counter. His heart stops, however, when seeing that his clumsiness has moved a cup dangerously close to the edge of the counter. It wasn't glass, nothing that would shatter upon impact with hitting the ground, but the noise would give him away. He dashes towards the cup, sticking his hands out to catch the cup from falling. The cup lands in his hands without much noise, though Jongin can't shake the anxious feeling off. He glares down at the small cup as if it's just betrayed him with his heart hammering against his chest. He's breathing heavily as he just stays crouched with the cup in his hands, squeezing his eyes shut as he takes a moment to recollect himself. 

 _Everything's okay,_  he tells himself. He carefully stands back up and places the cup back onto the counter. If he wasn't sweating before than he certainly is now. With a quick glance to the dining table he realizes that Rei is no longer at the table, his heart doing a summersault in his chest when trying to figure out where she could have gone. He must look like a deer in headlights if the laugh behind him is any indicator. He spins around on the back of his heels, nearly falling on to the floor when seeing Rei hovering over him. 

"I've been standing behind you since you caught the cup." She says with an unamused expression on her face. "I don't remember telling you to start dinner yet. What are you even doing in here?" Her eyes are icy and cold and Jongin understands why Baekhyun stresses getting on her good side more than Jaeyul's. He had no clue the kinds of things that she'd be willing to do just to prove a point. 

"I-I...I uh, I finished my chores early and thought that the kitchen could use some extra cleaning." He's quick to lie and he grabs the nearest sponge. "There's no such thing as a too clean kitchen." Rei still doesn't look pleased and her arms are now crossed over her chest, her blue painted fingernails tapping against the skin of her arm. 

"Go back to your room, Oni. Don't make me say it again. Because this is your first warning I won't do anything harsh. Do it again and I'll make sure that you can't use your feet for the next week." Her voice is laced with venom and Jongin quickly shuffles past her and out of the kitchen, making a beeline straight to his room. He lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding when he reaches his room, darting to the vent and shoving his napkins inside. This would have to be good enough for Baekhyun. Now he just needed something to write with. 

He supposed it didn't have to be a _pen_. It could be anything as long as he or Baekhyun could write with it. A crayon, marker, eyeliner stick, a stick and stamp ink (oddly specific), maybe a pen if he could find one. Odds are they were only in the office as well. For eyeliner, he'd probably have to sneak into Rei's room and that was something he wasn't entirely comfortable with. Stamp ink and crayons might be in the office as well. Jongin groans quietly before burying his face in his hands. How was he supposed to find something to write with? It's not like he could go out and ask Baekhyun, Rei had practically threatened him with staying in his room until kitchen duty and he didn't feel like calling her on her bluff. 

He groans quietly and flops back down onto his rock for a mattress. Not like he really had much time to search for anything to write with. Rei caught him as soon as he managed to find napkins. He closes his eyes and lets out a deep groan in realization. He'd have to go into Jaeyul's office, wouldn't he?

 

_"Jongin was kidnapped?"_

The seven men stare at Chanyeol in shock. They weren't expecting him to walk out in the middle of their conversation, and hadn't they closed his door? One of them should have at least heard him opening it, but maybe they were too preoccupied with the idea of Jongin and legal issues in a courtroom and--

"We were going to tell you." Maybe it's not always the best to start an explanation off like that, especially since every movie Kyungsoo has seen or acted in as always spiraled into a fight after that one line is used. Yet in this moment, it was the only thing Kyungsoo could think of to say. 

"And when was that? When the rest of the world found out too?" His voice cracks as he looks at the rest of the members with a face filled with betrayal. "I'm his band member. Don't I deserve to know too? I deserve to know with the rest of you!"

"You're ill, Chanyeol." Yixing interjects before Kyungsoo can speak up. "We wanted to wait until you were in a stable condition. We were afraid that if we told you too soon that you might have a heart attack."

"But it's okay if I find out by going onto Instagram or Twitter?"

"Of course not." Junmyeon quickly speaks. "We were going to tell you as soon as we could--"

"How long? How long has he been gone for?" His breathing is rapid as Junmyeon watches his chest rise and fall quickly with each breath he takes. "How long has he been missing?"

There's a silence between the rest of the members as they exchange looks of uncertainty with one another. "How long?" Chanyeol shouts, his deep voice bouncing off the walls. 

"Chanyeol, we wanted to tell you sooner." Kyungsoo speaks softly, though backs away a few steps when he's caught in Chanyeol's angry glare. "Since he and Yeon went to the market. It happened when they were on their way back."

"He's been gone for four days and I'm only finding out now?" Junmyeon flinches at the angry tone in Chanyeol's voice. His eyes were ablaze and his tone dripped with acid each time he spoke. Chanyeol was livid. Chanyeol, being the usual bundle of pure sunshine would rarely grow angry, frustrated yes, but not angry. When he did become angry, however, calming him down was no small feat. He was like an explosion when set off, an explosion with the brightest colors. So bright that it could become blinding. Junmyeon could barely handle him when he got to this point of anger, let alone their manager. When Chanyeol was angry he didn't care to listen to explanations or sides like he normally did. He only heard himself. 

"How the fuck has no one told me that Jongin has been missing for four _fucking_ days? Has anyone even been looking for him? Are the police involved?" He becomes blind when he's angry, refusing to see any logic or rationale in situations. He was dangerous when this furious, but only to himself. He rips the IV drip from his arm, Junmyeon watching speechlessly as he continues to remove anything that's kept him bound to the hospital the last several days. 

"Chanyeol, what are you doing?" Luhan asks, appalled. "You aren't well enough--"

"Fuck you." He spits out angrily. "Fuck all of you here." There's no reasoning with him, but Junmyeon still feels obligated to try. 

"Hold on, hold on-- you need to take a second to think." He's trying to block Chanyeol's pathway, stepping in front of him whenever he moves. He was playing a dangerous game, but he knew that. "Where are you even going? You haven't been discharged, Chanyeol." For once, despite everything he was expecting, Chanyeol stops. He nods his head slowly and becomes increasingly aware of his actions when seeing the timid and frightened expression on Sehun's face. He couldn't be acting like this in front of his other band mates. 

"You're right." It's uncharacteristic of him to suddenly pull himself together so quickly. Junmyeon's suspicious and so is Luhan, Yixing, and Kyungsoo. But what could they even say about that? "I need to go lay down for a bit. Let everything register in my head." He mumbles and glances over when seeing one of his nurses rush over to him. "I know, I know." He says before she can even start to scold him about his IV. He lets her lead him back to his room, the other members standing in stunned silence.

\---

_A/N: fun fact, so in Baekhyun's dreams he always mentioned it being dark, blue, or "home"/he can't escape from it. I'm sure you've picked up on it by now, but it's because Kura means "darkness" in Japanese, Rei is always wearing something blue, and because Baekhyun is always chained to the house he cannot escape, which means he's "a part of it" :)_


	20. Boum! It's revenge, baby

_December 1, 2020 2:15AM_

Chanyeol's had just about enough of all the secrets the members have been keeping from him. From refusing to update him on Baekhyun to going as far as covering the fact that Yeon was assaulted and Jongin kidnapped, it was safe to say that he was fed up. Hell, he didn't even know that the police were involved until just a few hours ago. A deep sigh leaves him as he grabs his bag from the chair placed against the window of his room, one meant for visitors. He managed to sneak out earlier and steal his clothes from when he was admitted and changed into them once he made it back to his room. 

Chanyeol was going to leave; he was going to find Baekhyun on his own. It was clear that his group mates planned on keeping everything from him and while that hurt him deeply, he didn't have much time to dwell over things. He had a mission and that mission was to find Baekhyun and now, apparently, Jongin too. He had a plan though, or at least what little of a plan he could think up within the last three hours. He was going to leave, of course, but not on his own. He flings his bag over his shoulder, rolling his neck from side to side to ease out any tensions. 

The hospital was relatively dead at this point, with the doctors and nurses running sparse and his bodyguards normally asleep at this hour, he shouldn't have much trouble getting out. He peeks out his window, grinning to himself when noting that the two guards sitting outside his room were, in fact, asleep on the uncomfortable and hard plastic chairs. He snorts to himself as he carefully and slowly opens his door, slipping out and making his way down the hall once noting that there were no doctors or nurses in the area.

 _Too easy_ , he thinks to himself. He keeps a careful eye out on the room numbers displayed on the walls by the doors as he walks by. "316." He whispers to himself while looking down at a piece of paper with his chicken scratch on it. He wasn't sure if he was correct or not; it was something he picked up on when Junmyeon was talking out in the hall earlier.

 _310, 312, 314..._ "316." He whispers to himself when stopping just outside the door. He peers into the small and narrow window on the door, grinning a lopsided smile when seeing Yeon reading in her hospital bed. At least he knew he wouldn't be waking her up. As if she noticed his thoughts, she looks up from the book she's reading, slowly closing it and placing it on the other side of her. As soon as they lock eyes, he carefully opens the door and slips in. 

"What are you doing up at this hour?" Yeon asks with a confused expression gracing her delicate features. "And why are you dressed in your normal clothes?" 

"We are going out." He mutters under his breath, dumping his bag on the empty chair by her bed. 

"We?" She asks with a raised eyebrow. "I'm not discharged for another week, Chanyeol." Her voice is laced with uncertainty as she watches the other shuffle around her hospital room. "And you aren't discharged for another few days, right?" 

"No one told me Jongin was kidnapped." He says while rummaging through his bag. "And no one is including me about finding Baekhyun, so," he huffs quietly and tosses a pair of clean clothes to Yeon. "We're doing this ourselves."

"What--" She catches the clothes before they can hit her in the face. She scrunches her nose when flattening them out on her bed and realizing that they aren't her own clothes. "Whose are these?" 

"I found you a new pair of clothes since your old pair were bloody and a little torn up." He says while leaning back against the wall. "You have to change so we can leave. No one will let us out if we're in patient clothes." 

"Chanyeol," She sighs softly and gently places the clothes on her lap, "this isn't rational. You aren't thinking straight; you're letting your emotions dictate your actions. That's the worst thing you can do in a situation like this." 

"Yeon, I'm going whether you come with me or not." There's a small frown on his lips as well as a tinge of disappointment in his voice. "I can't just sit around and wait for Baekhyun and Jongin to come back. I lost my best friend already; I can't just stand around as I lose my other best friend too." 

"And where would we be going?" Against her better judgment she decides to play along with his idea. 

"You were taken by the guy who kidnapped Jongin, right?" She shifts uncomfortably at his question and how casual he made the question sound. "Do you remember anything? Like, before you woke up. Did they take you to the same place they brought him? Did they keep you both separated?" Chanyeol was flying a lot of questions Yeon's way and it was making her a little lightheaded as she tried to keep up with them. 

"I don't remember much." She admits as she leans back against the headboard of the hospital bed. "I remember Minseok's car failing to start up and then suddenly Jongin's head was bleeding and I was pepper sprayed. Then Jongin was being strangled," she ducks her head slightly as she tries to remember more, her eyebrows furrowed as her mind desperately runs over everything, "and then we somehow got out of the car. We were running but then I was tasered. I lost consciousness soon after that." 

Chanyeol flinches from her story as he tries to push the thoughts of Jongin and Yeon being attacked out of his mind. "You don't remember anything else? Nothing at all?" He didn't mean to pressure her into remembering anything, but he needed as much information as he could get so he could be that much closer to finding Baekhyun and Jongin. 

"I woke up and it was pitch black. I don't know where I was, but there was a man with me. It wasn't Jongin." She clarifies the last part before continuing. "He kept the mask on so I don't know what he looked like. He was swearing to someone else...I don't know who. He was angry that he picked up Jongin's plaything when he wanted only Jongin. Another voice told him that he'd have to make do with it. It sounded like a woman, but I'm not sure. The voice also sounded like it was talking through a phone. I don't think she was actually there with us."

"So there's two people involved?"

"I think so. They were arguing about what to do with me, but I kept losing consciousness every few minutes. It was hard to keep up with what they were talking about. He obviously ended up dumping me in the woods, but then he started to chase me. He was saying things like how Oni and Kura need a playmate. Those might have been the names he mentioned. I'm not sure what that means." She leans her head back against the pillows as she thinks over everything that happened. "I wasn't supposed to get away. I'm not sure why he dumped me in the forest to begin with. Like a predator chasing after its prey. Sick and twisted."

Chanyeol stays silent for a moment in order to let the information process through his mind. "You want revenge?"

His short and simple question catches her off guard, the poor girl nearly choking in the process. "What do you mean by that, Chanyeol? If you're talking about what you brought up earlier--"

"Don't you feel like you could be doing more? Don't you just hate sitting around and waiting for someone else to solve this for you? Because that's how I feel. I feel so helpless and useless while Jongin's suffering somewhere out there. I need you to help me track them down. Do you think you could do that?"

She chews on her bottom lip anxiously as she thinks over what he's saying. Nothing about this was rational. Nothing about this was sound. How could she even track him? 

"Your phone had a GPS tracker in it, right?"

"My business phone doesn't--"

"The phone he took from you. Not your business phone; your smartphone." Yeon and Chanyeol exchange a look at this, a shiver shooting up her spine. 

"Why don't we just tell the police force to track my phone?"

"Those idiots are useless. I don't trust the experienced cops who ignored Baekhyun, and I certainly don't trust the new cops who are just looking for a fancy cold case to solve so they can be promoted to a higher league. You know who I do trust? You and I."

She was flattered, truly. But still, this couldn't be the right way to go about things, could it? "What about Junmyeon? What about Yixing? Shouldn't we inform one of them?"

"No. They didn't inform me about anything. We need to go now before my guards wake up and find that I'm not in my room anymore. Are you in or not?" His arms are crossed over his chest as he leans against the wall that's straight across from her bed. "Because I'll figure out how to track your phone on my own if you aren't--"

"I'm in." Yeon blurts out without much thought. She knew she would regret this, but something about Chanyeol's aura was really encouraging her to follow through with his plan. She pushes the bed sheets off, her bare feet landing on the cold tiled floor beneath her. "Turn around so I can change." She mumbles while holding up the plain black shirt and jeans. Were these even her size? Chanyeol does as told, turning around so that his back is facing her. Within a minute or two she's dressed and out of her hospital gown, slipping on the hospital slippers that were given to her by the staff. "You couldn't grab me a pair of shoes or anything?"

"Those aren't lying around like clothes." He scoffs before she gives him the okay to turn around. "Here." He tosses her a baseball cap from his bag. "Something to hide your face with."

"We're walking out through the front door?"

Chanyeol nearly laughs at this. "Of course not. We're going out the window." Yeon stares at him as if he's grown three heads. They were on the third floor. He strolls over regardless and pops the window by her bed open, sticking his head out slightly. "It's not too cold." 

"Are you insane? We'll kill ourselves." Chanyeol waves his hand dismissively.

"Relax. It's not like I'd let you die, Yeon." 

"Chanyeol, are you serious? There's no way in hell that I'd ever--" Chanyeol only shoots her a knowing grin in response.

 

Yeon isn't sure how she made it down without screaming the entire time or how she made it without breaking any limbs. She was semi-impressed with herself if she were being honest. "Told you I wouldn't let you die." He scoffs as the two walk down the parking lot of the hospital and to the main road. The two didn't have much of a plan, only what Chanyeol came up with and Yeon's few brainstorming ideas that she helped with. 

Yeon only needed her laptop to track down her phone. The issue with that, however, was that her laptop was left at the dorms. "We could sneak in. Wait outside and give me a key. I'll be in and out within seconds. It's on the living room table by the kitchen." She says as the two wait at the bus stop placed in front of the hospital. Were busses even running this late?

"What if someone wakes up and sees you? Junmyeon's a light sleeper, but not as light as Jongdae."

"I'll make them think they're dreaming; I don't know!" She groans as she sits on the cold metal bench. "I'm grabbing a jacket from your room though. There's no way I can run around in the middle of winter at night with a thin shirt on. You really want me to die, don't you?" Chanyeol rolls his eyes at this, his shirt just as thin and exposing to the chilly and unforgiving winter air. "The point is is that we can't track jack shit without my laptop, Chanyeol. The quicker we get it, the quicker we can find Jongin, right?" Chanyeol nods enthusiastically at this. 

She felt for him, she really did. While she didn't agree with going behind the backs of his members, she understood where he was coming from. She couldn't imagine how frustrated he must be feeling at the lack of input he's been able to put into the search. If by doing this would help ease him, then she would gladly do it. It wouldn't be the first crazy thing she's done for one of the members. 

She sighs softly and shakes her head, nudging the other in the side when seeing the bus pulling up in the distance. "I guess cities really do send busses out late." She watches as the bus slowly pulls to a stop in front of them, a sudden realization hitting her when the doors open and Chanyeol steps in. "Chanyeol, we don't have any money." Upon hearing this the bus driver immediately drops the friendly smile and instead has a frown tug at his lips. 

"You can't ride if you don't have money." Chanyeol frantically searches the pockets of his jeans for any kind of change, Yeon doing the same thing. He groans inwardly when coming up with nothing. 

"Please, sir, we _really_ need to take this bus home--"

"Listen, kid. I don't have enough time to be wasting on..." He pauses and perks up when recognizing Chanyeol's face. "You're Park Chanyeol, aren't you?" Chanyeol has to keep himself from rolling his eyes. _Of course._  He only nods his head in response. "My niece is a huge fan of yours. She's been to every concert you guys have held in Singapore. Tell ya what," the man grabs a piece of scratch paper from the dashboard along with a pen before handing it to Chanyeol. "If you sign this I'll let you and your friend ride for free." 

"Yeah, sure." Chanyeol mumbles as he scribbles his name across the torn piece of paper, writing a brief quote with it as well. He goes to hand it back, though the driver quickly stops him.

"Can you please make it out to Kym? That's her name; she's only sixteen. She would just be _so_ happy." Yeon clears her throat from behind him, wordlessly reminding Chanyeol to keep up his manners. He quickly nods his head with a forced smile, adding her name to the piece of paper before handing it back to him. "Thank you so much; she's going to be so happy with me. Sit anywhere you want." Without wasting another second Chanyeol and Yeon quickly make their way to the very back of the bus, plopping themselves down in the last two seats. He lets out a soft sigh as he rests his head against the window beside him. 

"Almost there." She whispers reassuringly. 

"Yeah, almost there." He sighs quietly.

 

_December 1, 2020 3:00AM_

Chanyeol waits anxiously outside of the dorms, Yeon having just gone inside to retrieve her laptop, a jacket, his wallet, and his car keys so that he can drive them around. He's shivering as he wraps his arms around himself tightly, letting out a deep breath as he leans against Junmyeon's car. He hoped she'd come out soon. He wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to wait out here without someone seeing him, a member waking up, or him freezing to death. His odds didn't look too good either way. He looks up to see the starry sky above him, not one cloud in sight. His breath forms in the air as his eyes look over each star in the sky. There weren't many; Seoul didn't attract many stars considering how many lights were normally on as well as planes flying overhead. 

He stuffs his hands in the pockets of his jeans as he continues to stare above him. He'd star watch with Baekhyun several times during their trainee days and it was something that he never quite grew tired of. He missed simpler times like that; times where they didn't have to worry about being swarmed by fans when they'd stop at a convenience store or insane ex-lovers. Simpler times. 

He glances at the time on his phone, growing antsy when seeing how late it was getting. Junmyeon woke up early; they probably only had another two hours (hour and a half if he wanted to push it) before members would start waking up. 

Inside, Yeon's sneaking around as quietly as she can. That wasn't hard for her; her job required her to sneak around quite often. She wasn't a loud person in general anyway, so it wasn't something that she couldn't handle. She snatched a bag from Chanyeol's room, something that was a little intimidating considering that Minseok was sleeping in there. She wasn't sure if he was a light sleeper, though she knew better than to walk around careless. She managed to grab two of his jackets, his keys, and his wallet. Now she just needed her laptop and charger and the pair should be good to go for the most part. She stealthily makes her way out to the living room, Chanyeol's bag filled with items slung over her shoulder. 

She makes it into the living room, carefully placing the bag onto the table and unzipping it, slipping the laptop inside along with her charger. She's surprised the police didn't harass anyone to look through it as she'd been using it for a majority of their investigation. A light behind her flips on, causing her to momentarily freeze in spot before slowly turning around. 

"Yeon?" 

She smiles nervously when realizing that she's only standing a few feet away from Sehun. "Hey, Sehun." She mumbles lamely. She shifts uneasily while hoping that her facial expression as well as her body language wasn't giving her away. 

"What are you doing here? It's really late." He rubs at the sleep from the corners of his eyes, Yeon figuring that he must have just waken up not too long ago. Must be hungry. "And why are you wearing..." He scrunches his nose slightly as he looks her up and down. Her black shirt was two sizes too big and her jeans were at least one size too big, not to mention that she was still wearing hospital slippers. "I thought you weren't supposed to be discharged for another week." She joked earlier to Chanyeol that she would convince someone they were dreaming if they caught her, but she didn't actually think it would happen nor did she even know how to do that. It seemed farfetched and impossible. 

"I've been discharged early and," she tucks some of her hair behind her ear as she thinks up the rest of her lie, "I was informed that I could be going to jail for my participation and involvement of this investigation." He still looks wary so she decides to continue. "My choice of work has also put me at risk for getting arrested. If I flee to China they won't hand me over to Korea." That was a little more believable, right? 

"You're leaving us?" He seems to be a little more awake now as the reality of the situation finally weighs down on him. "Can we still keep in contact with you?"

"I don't think that would be a good idea." She can't help but feel like absolute shit when seeing the frown form on his lips. "But...but just wait for me to contact you first, okay? I just have to lay low for a bit, yeah?" 

"Okay." He nods his head slowly. "But then why do you have Chanyeol's bag?" She freezes briefly as she glances at the bag to her side. 

"He said I could borrow it. I asked him back at the hospital." Sehun nods his head once again, seemingly believing her. 

"Yixing's going to be upset."

"He'll understand." She offers him a small smile before picking the bag back up. "I'll contact you when it's safe." She offers him a gentle pat on his shoulder as she walks past him. "Keep this between us, okay?" She whispers as he looks him over. "You'll hear from me soon enough." He's hesitant though nods his head again. "I'll see you later, Sehun." 

 

Chanyeol watches as Yeon hurries out the front door with his bag in hand, a sigh of relief instantly leaving him. "Thank god, I thought we'd never--"

"Sehun saw me." She says as she tosses him his car keys and a jacket. He slips the jacket on within seconds while rushing over to his car. "But I made something up. I told him I was going to lay low in China for a bit, that I might get arrested for my job. I also told him to keep this between us." She explains as Chanyeol unlocks his door, Yeon pulling open the passenger door and getting in. She places the bag down by her feet as Chanyeol hops into the driver's seat. 

"You didn't tell him anything about me, did you?"

"No. I left your name out of it." She turns to look at the taller man. "Should we do this at a motel? It'll be a little difficult to do this in a moving car. At least in a motel it'll be stable. Just get one far enough out of the city."

Chanyeol nods his head as he pulls out of the driveway. "That's a good idea."

 

Chanyeol's been in a motel before, sure, but never one as...what's the appropriate word for it? He's never been in a motel this dirty before. Yeon seems unbothered as she sets up her equipment on an old and unstable table that's against the wall, Chanyeol lingering by the doorway as he looks around. There were two beds, both giving off an unpleasant smell. There were stains on the ceiling as well as the carpet and Chanyeol wasn't sure if he wanted to know what they were from. 

"Close the door; you're letting the cold air in." Yeon comments from where she sits, typing away furiously as she pulls everything up that's needed. Chanyeol does as told, debating if he should keep his shoes on or not once the door is cold. He decides he'll leave them on, good manners or not. It's not like it's his house or a friend's house; it's a dirty motel in the middle of nowhere. No one would have to know and no one would care. He moves to stand behind her, deciding that he doesn't really want to sit on the bed that's only a few feet away from her. 

"We'll be able to track your phone through this?" Chanyeol questions as he hovers over her right shoulder, anxiously and curiously staring at the screen monitor. 

"If they haven't destroyed it...or if it's still on." A sigh leaves her lips as the reality of the situation hits her fully. "It's more than likely off, it probably died if they haven't thrown it somewhere--"

"But we can track it?" He was persistent. 

"We can track it back to the last place it was when powered off; it won't be communicating with cell towers if it's off or dead." Her fingers type away furiously as she pulls up a program that Chanyeol's never seen or used before. "But they could have just chucked it somewhere, or powered it down completely off route. This isn't the most accurate..."

"It's still better than nothing, Yeon. Even if it feels like we're just grasping at straws. It's better than just sitting around in a hospital room not being able to do anything. Plus," he walks over to the small single sofa in the corner of the room and drags it against the carpet in the direction of Yeon and her set up, "you could end up in prison once they discharge you from the hospital. I figured that once we finish this up you could just flee back to China. China won't give you over to Korea." He plops down into the worn leather, leaning his back against the material. 

"That would make you an accessory in my escape, Chanyeol." She deadpans. "I don't think it's that simple. I could get away, but then what about you? You'll still be the man who escaped a hospital, dragged a criminal to the middle of nowhere to go vigilante, and then helped said criminal flee the country. I think you'll end up in court with Junmyeon, Kyungsoo, Minseok, and Luhan." 

"Then so be it. It'll be worth it if we find Baekhyun and Jongin." 

"If." She restates. Chanyeol's tapping his fingers against the arm rest of the sofa, his eyes taking in everything on the screen as he tries to force himself to understand what's happening. 

"What's it say?" He finally asks after coming to the conclusion that he does not understand anything on the laptop. 

"It says the phone was last on in this area." She digs around in her bag, grabbing an expo-dry erase marker, uncaps it, and circles the area that was highlighted. "So, the market Jongin and I originally went to was in the heart of Seoul, that's where Minseok's car was found. This, however, is saying that my phone was located in Hanam before it was powered down. Mind you, I didn't have my phone on me when I woke up, so it's possible they drove there after dumping me." 

"That's not far from Seoul." Chanyeol furrows his eyebrows while in deep thought. "Do you think they reside somewhere near Seoul?"

"It could be, but it also could be that they powered down my phone and threw it away before leaving." 

"Where are we at right now?" Chanyeol asks.

"We're by Gangnam." 

"It takes an hour to get to Hanam from there." Chanyeol's up within seconds, grabbing his keys from the bed and ushering Yeon to get up as well. 

"What are you suggesting?" She asks with a wary tone. She eyes him carefully as he gathers his belongings before stopping and staring at her. "You want us to go to Hanam? Chanyeol, I can't track down the exact spot where the phone was; just the cell tower it was by. I can't lead us to a definite spot where we can find the phone."

"That doesn't matter. We'll make it work. Pack up your stuff, Yeon. We need to go to Hanam." 

"And do what, Chanyeol? We can't just go around knocking on everyone's doors asking if they have anyone named Jongin or Baekhyun living with them. It's a big area; the phone could be anywhere. None of this makes sense."

"I have a plan. Do you trust me or not?" He asks when seeing the uncertain expression on her face. She hesitates, though quickly shuts down her laptop, packing it back up and putting it into her bag. "We just need to narrow things down, but I think we're on the right track. We already have a place picked out, right?"

"If you can even call it that." She sighs in annoyance while pulling her bag on. "We should go then." With this, Chanyeol swiftly unlocks the door and heads into the parking lot with the shorter female.

"So much for renting out a room." She mutters under her breath.

\---

_A/N: hi_


	21. Cold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: warning: shit hits the fan fam

Luhan's black polished shoe is tapping feverishly against the tiled shiny floors, an anxious sigh leaving his lips as he looks around for a distraction. Approximately two rooms down Junmyeon was on the verge of completely losing his sanity. They had been informed by the hospital staff, Chanyeol's guards, and the police alike that both Chanyeol and Yeon had gone missing over night. 

Junmyeon took it well, he supposes. When they were first told his ex-leader erupted into loud hysteric laughter for a solid two minutes. His manager and the officer were both alarmed by this, though they kept silent until he calmed down. As soon as Junmyeon stopped laughing, however, he started yelling and even went as far as throwing one of the plastic chairs down the hall. Junmyeon then went on to screaming in the faces of Chanyeol's guards, swearing at them left and right about how incompetent they were, how they put Korea to shame, and how they could let the two get kidnapped while standing just outside Chanyeol's room. Luhan's never heard Junmyeon swear so much, nor had he ever heard the those words strung together in a sentence the way he had crafted them together. 

However, when they were all informed that they had footage of the events and when they had actually witnessed Chanyeol sneaking by the guards and then promptly heading to Yeon's room did Junmyeon lose his shit even more. It was almost fascinating to watch. Almost. 

It was a stressful event, that was for sure. Sehun had started to cry at one point, Kyungsoo rushing to him and pulling him in a tight embrace. Jongdae stayed glued to Minseok's side, keeping his eyes on his feet on the ground below him while Minseok decided to stare at an object-- Luhan wasn't sure what, maybe a chair or a clock hung up on the wall. Yixing was standing in stunned silence before blurting out several questions about Yeon and if they were sure that she left with Chanyeol. Things were going great; _just great._  

It was at that point that the police officially got involved and Junmyeon and the rest were requested, more like commanded if you asked Luhan's opinion, that they stand back in the investigation. In which case afterwards, Junmyeon lost his shit even more. Safe to say, it's been a very eventful day filled with Junmyeon losing his mind just down the hall. 

Luhan turns his head to the right when hearing a soft side beside him. It was Yixing. How long had he been standing there? "Fun day, huh?" His voice was dry, not at all calming or soft how it normally was. His voice sounded tired, hoarse, exhausted. He couldn't blame him. "It's not safe to approach Junmyeon yet, if that's what you're thinking." 

"I wasn't." His hands are deep in his pant pockets, eyes narrowed as he stares ahead. Luhan had no want or need to be fulfilled that involved talking to Junmyeon in his current state. Anything could wait until later. 

"Where do you think they went?" Yixing's straightening the front of his shirt, acting suspiciously calm for everything that was currently happening. 

"Where do you think?" He scoffs under his breath, rolling his eyes as he leans his back against the wall both men were standing against. "To find Baekhyun and Jongin. And I can bet you that it was all Chanyeol's idea, the big doof. He doesn't think his actions through-- the consequences, the plan, nothing. He just dives in head first and doesn't even pray or even cross his fingers in hopes that all will end well." There was no distaste to his voice, in fact it was soft and gentle, caring if you wanted to go as far to say that. 

"I just," a sigh leaves Yixing as he sits down in one of the empty chairs, pulling at the rolled up cuff of his sleeve, "I don't want him getting Yeon hurt. I don't want him getting hurt either. He's ill and she's injured. A recipe for disaster. I can't believe she went through with him. Of all things for her to do, this was the one thing I didn't expect." He glances at his phone in hopes for seeing a message from either Yeon or Chanyeol. 

"The police are tracing their location through Chanyeol's phone." Yixing comments after another beat of silence passes. Luhan raises an eyebrow at this, glancing down at the other before laughing softly.

"The idiot took his phone with him? What kind of escape artist is he?" 

"Not a very good one, thankfully." He snorts softly. "Like you said, he wasn't thinking when he came up with this so of course he took his phone with him. The police say it's not even off, they can actively trace their movements."

"Did they say where they were headed?" 

"They wouldn't tell me." Luhan tilts his head at this. Something about that rubbed him the wrong way. Who did the police force think they were to storm in, snatch the rug from under their feet, and then refuse to share information with them? 

"Where are they right now?"

"The police?" Yixing asks. Luhan nods. "They went back to the station, probably to investigate and talk in a more private area--"

"Alright, come on." Luhan grabs Yixing by the arm and yanks him up from his seat. He was pulling Yixing out the door before he could even protest. 

 

"Luhan, I don't see how this is a good idea." Yixing pants out as Luhan storms into the police station, grabbing Yixing along by his arm. 

"Of course you don't. You play by the rules too much." Luhan drags the other all the way up to the front counter, Yixing anxiously standing behind him and watching the two seated officers typing away at their computers. Luhan narrows his eyes and clears his throat impatiently when neither officer pay him any attention. "Yes, hello." He leans himself over the front desk, yanking the cables out from the desktop monitors. Both officers snap their attention onto him as soon as their screens go black. "Who can we talk to about Byun Baekhyun and Kim Jongin's case? Because I'm tired of not being told shit when we did most of the work for you guys." Yixing only sighs behind him as he buries his face in his hands. This was not a good look. 

The two officers only look at him in surprise, probably caught off guard from Luhan's surprising behavior (or is it really surprising?). "Can we talk to your manager?" He scrunches his nose as he turns to look at Yixing. "Do they even have a manager?" 

"Police chief." He coughs as he looks down at his shoes. 

"Police chief! I want to see your police chief!" Luhan has his hands on his hips as he angrily glares down at the two officers. They looked younger than he was, hardly professional. 

"And who are you?" The youngest one speaks up though shrinks in his chair when Luhan directs his glare onto him. 

"Lu Han. You haven't heard of me? I find that unlikely. Where's your chief? Whatever, you're wasting my time." He hardly gives them any time to respond, grabbing Yixing's hand and yanking him down the closest hall. 

"I don't think we can do this." Yixing says as he anxiously looks back over his shoulder. The older man doesn't answer and instead continues to storm down the hall. He's scanning the name plates drilled onto the wall by each door, ignoring the questioning looks officers, detectives, assistants, and interns send their way. Yixing thinks Luhan's about to give up when the older suddenly stops, sending Yixing tumbling into his back. Before he can question his antics Luhan points at the plate on the door. 

_Kim Namjoon_

_Gangnam Police Chief_

"Oh." Yixing says before whipping his head around and staring at Luhan with wide eyes when he starts to open the door. "Are you insane? We could get arrested? Luhan, please think this through." He pleads. Luhan pauses, pulling his hand back from the door knob. 

"You're right, we should think about this. Actions have consequences." The younger lets out a sigh of relief, though chokes on air when Luhan shrugs and forces the door open anyway. The lights in the office are dim, a man hunched over at his desk as his fingers hurriedly type away on his keyboard. Yixing anxiously glances at Luhan when noting that the man behind the desk, Chief Kim assumedly, hasn't noticed their presence yet. They could still get out of this, if they just leave quietly--

A loud and obnoxious clearing of the throat has the man looking up from what he was doing. Confusion was on his face briefly, though he soon sighs out of annoyance. "Luhan, Yixing, what pleasure do I have with the two of you today?" He leans back in his seat, placing his folded hands over his stomach. 

"What's going on with the case? Do you have officers out? Do you even know where to look?" Luhan, like earlier, wasn't giving anyone time to answer with his several questions. "And no, I won't butt my head out like you told Yixing to earlier. Another member is missing and so help me god if you and your incompetent team don't figure it out this time I swear I'll--"

"Please don't threaten the chief in his own station." Yixing mumbles from behind the fuming man. 

He sighs as he slowly sits up, his hands resting on the surface of his desk. "Luhan, I understand your frustrations, I really do. However, I wasn't the chief of the station two years ago when the case was first brought under investigation. Since then the Gangnam Police Force has undergone several changes, including new officers as well as a new chief. We're taking this case just as seriously as you are. We're just as frustrated as you from the little amount of effort that went into this case when it first came to light. I promise you that we're doing everything we can to help find both Baekhyun and Jongin." 

"You better be serious, Namjoon." Luhan says as he crosses his arms over his chest, shifting in his spot slightly.

"Please, Chief Kim will do." The two have a brief stare off, Yixing glancing between the two unsurely. 

"Let us help. I think it's been well established that we know more about the case then you or employees do. We can get it done faster if you share information with us, and in turn we'll share information with you."

Chief Kim scoffs at this. "We do this for a living, we do this professionally. Luhan, you or your other members could get seriously hurt from just one misstep. You could even get killed if you aren't careful enough. We're dealing with a possible killer, someone who's extremely dangerous and unstable. Do you understand how serious this situation is? Now you have a _third_ member missing along with a woman who was dragged into this and we have no idea if they're safe or not."

"Aren't you tracing their location right now?" He asks in an irritated tone. 

Chief Kim sighs as he runs a hand through his hair. "How exactly would you plan on helping the case?" It's as if his question throws Luhan off guard, the man only able to gawk at the chief in response. "Hurry now, I don't have all day." 

"Well, we know Baekhyun and Jongin's personalities. We know what they're like and what they would and wouldn't do. We also know how Chanyeol works and thinks and I can probably already tell you what he's up to with Yeon." Yixing takes over for Luhan who's still dazed and caught off guard. "We know that whoever took Yeon and Jongin was stalking Jongin, we just don't know why. We have so many questions and only half answers, but if we work together I think we can start getting more full answers and less questions. You just need to trust us, we aren't just the boys running around blindly trying to find answers. We're putting thought into this and I feel as if we're so close to uncovering the truth. We must be for them to have taken Yeon and Jongin." Yixing throws an arm over Luhan's shoulders, though mostly to keep the older man in check. He couldn't afford for him to blow it when the chief was finally starting to listen to them. "The police are supposed to work with witnesses and friends as well as family members. It wouldn't make sense to exclude us unless you really aren't wanting to solve the case."

Chief Kim sighs as he leans back in his chair once again. "I can split you guys into groups with officers. You can work on separate things, but you need to keep things confidential from the public and the moment I see any of you jeopardizing your lives or health I'm pulling you off. I shouldn't even be letting you guys do this, but I feel it's the only thing I can do to make up for how the previous officers and chief handled the situation." 

Yixing can't stop the smile from spreading on his lips, and Luhan thinks he's heard everything completely wrong. Of course this is how he envisioned things ending, but he thought he'd have to at least threaten Chief Kim to get what he wanted. "Contact your members; have them come here. I'll speak with them then. Now please, let me work in the meantime." 

And with that Chief Kim lazily dismisses them with a wave of his hand, the two men stumbling out afterwards. "We should probably call Junmyeon, shouldn't we?" Yixing mumbles as Luhan fumbles around on his phone, dialing Junmyeon's number.

 

Jongin can't keep his hands from trembling as he sits on his stiff mattress. It was almost eleven, only a few minutes from it actually. He didn't really have a plan as to how he'd get into Jaeyul's office, but that's okay. He could wing it if he needed to, but that wasn't exactly the smartest plan he could have. He hadn't seen the scary side of Jaeyul or Rei yet, even though they were already plenty intimidating. He sighs shakily as he squeezes his hands together, watching as his hands try to stop their trembling. If he could map out the place, they could have a better chance of escaping. Along with that, they could find out where the vents lead to and how they could cut of the chains. The last bit might be the hardest, but it was worth the fight if it was the only thing standing in between them and their freedom. 

He takes a deep breath after waiting a few minutes, realizing that it might be eleven now. He slowly pushes himself off the mattress, approaching the door as quiet as he can, as if Rei or Jaeyul will hear him all the way in his room. Who knows? Maybe they could. He slowly opens his door, sighing softly when it opens without much noise. Within seconds he slips out and makes his way down the hall immediately.

He knew Jaeyul's office was just across the hall from his room, but he wasn't entirely sure where. What if he accidentally opened Jaeyul's or Rei's bedroom door instead? He knew Baekhyun's room was also somewhere in that hall...why was his room so isolated from everyone else? Maybe he should be grateful for that. He stares down at his feet as he walks, as if staring at his feet will keep it quiet somehow. His chains gently drag against the floor, the sound of it slightly noticeable, though he figured if he ran it would grow louder. 

The halls looked...normal. Pictures of Rei, Jaeyul, and maybe family members lined the walls. They looked normal for the most part, pictures of what he's assuming are them as children are almost everywhere, with the pair laughing and smiling as if they were just two normal people. He didn't know how people could just make a switch like that, how they could go from laughing and smiling at family junctions to then kidnapping and torturing someone. The mind really worked in mysterious ways. 

He peels his attention away from the photographs as he turns the hall, a soft breath leaving him. He wondered where the chains stemmed from, how they could let him go so far without stopping him. He turns a corner, watching carefully as he enters a new hall. He was fairly sure he was only a hall away at this point. His finger tips gently trail against the wall to his right, taking in the smooth wood paneling. He was scared, his heart pounding against his ribcage. "Breathe." He whispers to himself. There was a lack of doors in this hall, one for a bathroom and that seemed to be it. Maybe this only served as a connecting hall. He rounds another corner once again, pausing as soon as he enters.

There were several doors on both sides, how was he meant to tell which was the office or their bedrooms? He rubs his sweaty palms together as he glances around anxiously. He might have to just open the doors one by one, carefully glancing in to see which room was what. That was the only plan of action he had the moment, but as long as he was quiet he should be okay. He just hoped that the doors wouldn't creak or make noise to give him away. He approaches the first door, hand shaking as it reaches out to grip onto the golden door knob. Was this real gold? 

He slowly and carefully begins to twist the door open, a huge wave of relief washing over him as he opens the door to an empty room. Nothing but a few cardboard boxes filled with random things. He slowly closes the door before moving onto the next one. He repeats the process until he's covered five of the doors in the hallway. He only had four left: Baekhyun's room, Jaeyul's room, Rei's room, and the office. At least that's what he assumes, he wasn't sure about the rooming situation, all he knew was that there was still four doors left. It was like playing the game, "What's behind door number two?" except this time it wouldn't be with any cool prize. The best he'd get would be a pen, the worst he'd get would be death. He wonders if people would watch this kind of game. 

He wraps his hand around the door knob of the fourth door, his heart stopping when he opens it to see Rei's sleeping figure in her bed. Her room was a nice one, large too. She had a queen sized bed, her small figure looking even smaller in the huge bed. She seemed to be sleeping soundlessly, her breathing faint as he quietly scans the room. He didn't see any sign of Jaeyul or Baekhyun. She rooms alone then. 

He closes his eyes tightly as he silently and slowly closes the door. Just his luck. It gives him a break though, when he opens the next door only to see the office. It was dark, the computer shut down, the lights off, the blinds drawn on the window. He quietly walks in, feeling around the wall in hopes of stumbling across a light switch. He flips it on as soon as he finds it, his eyes taking a second to adjust to the lighting. He cracks the door slightly, unable to close it all the way due to his chain. 

The office looked well kept, everything tidy and put into a specific place. The walls were a soft beige, the floor made of a dark brown wood panel. The desk held only a desktop computer and keyboard along with the wireless mouse, a picture frame on the desk of people he didn't know. However, he wasn't here to snoop or get distracted. He needed a pen, a pencil, maybe a crayon. He wasn't picky. He just needed something to write with. He moves towards the desk, if Jaeyul kept items to write with then it would certainly be by his desk. He quietly opens the drawers one by one, rummaging through in hopes of finding something to write with. They were filled mostly with junk, things like scrap paper, phone chargers, paperclips, etc. 

He's down to the last drawer when he finally stumbles upon a pen. Two actually, one for him and one for Baekhyun. He quickly snatches the two black pens, sighing in relief as he carefully closes it back shut before standing back up. He makes his way back towards the door, ready to leave when something catches his eye. He turns slightly to a bookshelf that's placed against the wall just across the office desk. The books were neatly stacked next to each other, though a small white envelope was poking out just towards the end of the second shelf. Curiosity killed the cat is what they say, and maybe in Jongin's case that's true. 

He stops just short of the bookshelf, reaching forward and pulling out the white envelope. He stares down at the material in his hands, eyebrows furrowed as he flips it over. It was unmarked, nothing written on it. Odd, why would there be just a random envelope on the bookshelf? Why wouldn't Jaeyul keep it in his drawers with the rest of the random shit he threw in there? He weighs it gently in his hands, pausing when hearing something move inside the envelope. He carefully opens it, it wasn't even glued shut? Interesting. He peers inside, gasping out in shock when seeing a small golden key inside. He glances down at the chain on his ankle, matching the key up with the keyhole. It was the same shape. Was this what could get the chains off?

"That's not possible. Why would it be so out in the open?" Jongin whispers to himself as he pulls the key out to exam it, quickly stashing the envelope back into the shelf and keeping the key for himself (and Baekhyun, of course). Before Jongin's mind can even make sense of what he's holding, the door is suddenly slammed open by a very livid looking Jaeyul. 

_Shit._

Jongin looks like a deer in headlights, eyes large and his body unmoving as he just stares at Jaeyul. His feet were rooted into the ground as if he were a tree that had grown there and lived in this exact spot for hundreds of years. "What the fuck are you doing in my office, Oni?" His voice is seething and his face is red with anger. Jongin didn't think that Jaeyul would wake up and find him. He wasn't being loud, did he just happen to wake up? 

He's frozen, unable to come up with any valid excuse. Was there any valid excuse at this point? It's as if his body forgot how to function as Jaeyul storms up to him, grabbing him by his hair and slamming him against the closest wall. During the struggle, Jongin manages to hide the key in the hem of his sweatpants. He struggles against Jaeyul, trying to think of a way to get himself out of this situation. "Answer my question, Oni. What are you doing in my office? Why are you out of your room at this hour?" Jongin knew that no one was allowed in Jaeyul's office. It was pretty much the untouchable room other than his and Rei's bedrooms. He twists his body so that he can try and slip out of his grasp, though it seems that Jaeyul's always one step ahead of him. 

"I-I..." Jongin's scrambling for an excuse. Any excuse. "I was looking for the bathroom. I couldn't find one a-and I opened the door thinking that this was the bathroom." 

"Then why the fuck do you have these in your hand?" He grabs the pens from Jongin's hands, throwing them onto the wooden floor, Jongin watching as the pens roll to a slow stop. Before Jongin can speak up and defend himself, Jaeyul wraps his hand around his throat, keeping him in place against the wall. He suddenly knees him in the stomach, throwing Jongin to the floor within seconds. "You've had it so good so far, why would you ruin it? You know I can't trust someone who goes against my orders and wishes, Oni. What am I to do with you?" He sticks his foot under Jongin's side, flipping him over to where he's lying on his back instead of his side. He crouches down afterwards, grabbing him by his hair so he can make eye contact with him. "What am I to do with you? What should I do with someone who misbehaves?" 

Jongin's speechless; he can't think of anything to say. He's in too much pain, he didn't think he'd be able to speak anyway. He watches as Jaeyul digs his hand into the pocket of his pajama pants, pulling out a pocket knife and unsheathing it. His eyes widen when reality hits him, rolling onto his side just in time, Jaeyul sending the pocket knife deep into the wood floor. "B-Baekhyun!" Jongin screams as he scrambles to get away, jumping to his feet and dodging Jaeyul's sharp and sudden swing. He falls, tripping over his feet from the harsh tug Jaeyul gives to his chain. His chin collides with the floor, a grunt leaving him as he cups his face in his hands, curling inwards slightly. He hears Jaeyul approaching, his feet coming towards him quickly against the paneling. He glances over, slowly looking from his feet up to the knife dangling in his right hand. 

"Why are you shouting for him? He won't come to your aid. He values his life too much, why throw it away for someone who clearly doesn't give a shit about his own?" Jongin flinches from his words. He pushes himself up just enough to where he can start to crawl away from the other, though Jaeyul sends another hard tug to his chain, pulling him right back to him. "This is just getting sad now, Jongin." He sighs softly as he stares down at the other. "You just couldn't keep your nose out of my business. I really wanted to like you, I thought I could tolerate you if I gave you a new identity. Maybe I'm just getting too old and lazy to whip you into shape, to put the effort into you. I really wanted this to work, you know. So what I have to do will pain me; it may even hurt me more than it'll hurt you." 

Jongin watches with terrified eyes as the knife in Jaeyul's hand moves closer to his neck, the gleaming light on the blade nearly blinding him. Was this really how he was going to die? Miles from his dorm and alone with someone he didn't know? He always thought he'd die of old age, not murder. How sad, to die in a place that no one knows about. What will become of him? Will they dump his body for the bugs and animals to eat or for someone to find? Or will they keep him instead, using his body to help the flowers in their backyard grow? Would anyone ever find him, or would he just simply be known as the one who disappeared without a trace?

A scream erupts from his lips when something is smashed over Jaeyul's head, the older male collapsing on top of him. He quickly shoves Jaeyul off, scrambling away as he looks up to see the source of the sudden commotion. He can't help but to let out an airy laugh when seeing Baekhyun standing where Jaeyul once stood, a broken lamp in his hand. 

"W-Where did you get that?" He chokes out with his finger shakily pointing at the lamp.

"Jaeyul's room. I heard screaming and when I left my room I saw that his was empty, so I stole his lamp. I heard you crying for me." He tosses the remains of the lamp onto the ground as he crouches down, hands pulling at Jongin's to help him sit up fully. "Are you hurt? Did he hurt you?" 

"No, no. I don't think so." He looks over himself briefly before remembering what he had found earlier. "B-Baekhyun!" He suddenly shouts, though Baekhyun clamps a hand over his mouth. 

"Rei is still asleep, do you really want to wake her? How can I explain why Jaeyul is knocked out on the ground or how we're both in his office? I don't have another lamp to whack people with either." He huffs before slowly removing his hand from Jongin's mouth. 

"Look." He has to dig around the front of his pants, much to the disgusted look on Baekhyun's face. Before he can question what he's doing, Jongin pulls out a small golden key. "It has the same shape as the hole in our chains. I think this is the key to take them off. Baekhyun, we could escape, we could escape. I can get you out of here, I can finally get you away from here." He speaks excitedly as he practically shoves the key in the other's face. 

"Are you sure?" He asks slowly, eyes never leaving the key. "Where did you even find this?"

"His bookshelf. I came in here to grab the pens to map out the place, but then I saw an envelope sticking out on the shelf and and and--" He drops the key on to the floor from his shot nerves, shaky fingers scooping the key back up quickly. "Try it. Fit it into your chain and see if it works. See, try it." He hands the key to Baekhyun as soon as he speaks, dropping it into his pale hands. 

"Don't you want to try yours first?"

"You deserve to leave first." 

Baekhyun scrunches his nose at this, though moves his hand to the chain wrapped tightly around his ankle. It was starting to look really bad, Jaeyul and Rei hadn't exactly kept his ankle clean often, nor did they provide him with the materials to keep his ankle clean on his own. He carefully slips the key into the small keyhole. He didn't even realize he was holding his breath until the key clicked as he turned it, a breath escaping him as the chain opens and falls limply from his ankle. He immediately looks up at Jongin, eyes wide as he tries to search his eyes, anything to indicate that this was some cruel kind of joke. 

"Holy shit." Jongin breathes out when seeing that Baekhyun was no longer chained up. He quickly unlocks Jongin as well, tossing the key to the ground afterwards. He wiggles his ankle around slightly in front of him, watching as he moves freely without anything to keep him back. He hadn't been here as long as Baekhyun, yet he had already forgot what it was like to not have a chain around his ankle. He couldn't imagine what must be going through Baekhyun's head. 

Baekhyun and Jongin's eyes both widen when hearing a door open and slam shut down the hall, exchanging worried glances with one another. "Rei." They both whisper to each other before jumping to their feet. They were going to do it, they had no idea how but that didn't matter. All they knew was that they were going to escape tonight. 

It was going to happen.

\---

_A/N: i found out my friend was struck by lightning last night at a festival. please pray for her or send her good vibes. they don't know if she'll be okay and she's currently undergoing surgery. it looks really bad right now._


	22. All things must come to a boil

Jongin and Baekhyun immediately jump to their feet when hearing a door slam in the distance. "What do we do?" A panicked Jongin whispers to Baekhyun. 

"Maybe she's just going to the bathroom." Baekhyun whispers back, though even he seems unconvinced by his own theory. 

"Or maybe she's coming to fucking kill us." Jongin thinks he's two seconds from passing out. Baekhyun darts over to the office door, kicking the chains out and then promptly closing the door quietly, locking it afterwards. He then turns around to look at Jaeyul's unconscious body. 

"You think he has duct tape in here?" He exchanges a look with Jongin who immediately rushes over to the desk, opening every drawer and rummaging through it. He pulls out a roll of duct tape, tossing it to the black haired man. Within five minutes Baekhyun and Jongin have successfully taped Jaeyul's hands and feet together, as well as placing a strip of tape over his mouth. "We probably don't have much time before Jaeyul wakes up or Rei comes breaking the door down." He chews on his bottom lip as he looks around the office before an idea strikes him. Baekhyun's never had this much adrenaline in him since living here. He's always blindly followed Rei and Jaeyul's rules in fear of being punished, but something about this situation had him willing to risk everything. "We can escape by going out the window." Jongin walks over to the window when Baekhyun brings up the suggestion, sighing loudly when seeing that the window was nailed shut. 

"He probably thought that far ahead. It would be too easy to open a window and hop out it." He sighs as he backs away from the window. 

"We can try breaking it with something."

"Wouldn't that just bring Rei's attention to us?" He counteracts Baekhyun's idea. It seemed too risky to make too much noise. Then again, did they really have much of a choice? If they decided to leave the office then they'd have to face Rei, which would leave them as good as dead. He supposes it didn't matter anymore, at least not when Rei started pounding on the door from the other side. 

"Well, whatever we're going to do we need to do it now." Baekhyun says as the two start to frantically look around the office for anything that could break the window or pry the nails out.

"What can even take out nails?" Jongin stutters as he looks around nervously. 

"A hammer, but I doubt he has one in here." 

"Another lamp?"

"There isn't one."

"What about a chair?"

"Are you suggesting we just throw the computer chair at the window?" Baekhyun asks incredulously. 

"I don't see you spitting out other ideas." He whines as Rei's banging grows louder.

"Open the fucking door!" A shiver shoots down Jongin's spine. He's never heard her that angry before. Jongin thinks he's only a few seconds away from breaking out into a hysterical sob, the fact that Jaeyul was tied up on the floor and Rei was about to break the door down-- it was just way too much for him. His senses were completely overloaded at the moment. Thankfully Baekhyun seemed to be unfazed by it.

"Does he have a heavy book or something? A paperweight?" Jongin wants to pull his hair out. How is there so many items in his office, but none of them are actually useful? 

Baekhyun scans the room, lips pursed as he crosses his arms over his chest. Surely there was something they could use. There was no way that there was nothing for them to break the window with. He can hear the door starting to give way to Rei's fist, the older man grabbing the computer desk by the side. "Jongin, help me push this against the door." Jongin does as told, grabbing the opposite side and pushing it with Baekhyun towards the door. "It'll hold her off at least a little longer." He sighs. 

Back to square one.

"That." Jongin points to a pot containing a small plant inside. "It looks sturdy enough, why don't we try that?" Baekhyun only watches as Jongin grabs the pot, pulling the plant after briefly apologizing to it. He holds onto the pot tightly before slamming it against the glass. Baekhyun flinches from the loud noise, feeling his heart sink as he watches the glass barely budge. "I can try again." Jongin chokes out nervously when Rei starts to kick at the door. He slams the pot into the glass another three times, sighing in relief when watching the glass start to crack. 

"Let me try." Baekhyun anxiously speaks up as he tries to ignore Rei's insane screaming, taking the pot from Jongin's hands carefully before repeating the same process he did. "It probably only needs four more hits maybe." He speaks quickly as he glances back at the door, the desk being pushed away from how hard she was hitting the door. 

"Hurry, hurry." Jongin ushers the other quickly. "She's going to get in soon." Baekhyun's slamming the pot against the window as hard as he can, Jongin hovering over his shoulder as he takes turns from glancing between the door and the window. A loud crashing sound is heard from behind them, both Baekhyun and Jongin turning around to see Rei kicking the door open, the desk falling backwards. For the first time this evening, Jongin sees Baekhyun frozen in fear. He quickly swipes the pot from the other, hitting it hard enough that the glass on the window finally breaks. 

Rei's trying to climb over the desk that's blocking her path, Jongin grabbing Baekhyun by the shoulders and staring him dead in the eyes. "Baekhyun, snap out of it." He shakes the shorter male slightly, gently patting his cheeks as he moves so he's blocking his vision from Rei. "Baekhyun, listen and listen closely," he glances back when seeing Rei get past the desk, charging at them. "I'll distract her, but you need to get out. There isn't much time." He barely gives Baekhyun any time to react before he starts shoving him towards the opened window. 

"Jongin, are you insane? I can't leave you here. She'll kill you!" He tries to reason with the other, gripping onto his forearm tightly. "I'll stay with you. I don't want you here alone. I don't care what the punishment is, I'll go through it with you. I'm not letting you do this by yourself." He's trying to reason, he's never reasoned this hard in his entire life. Jongin isn't having it though, forcing the older male to start to exit through the window. "Leave and find the rest of the guys. Go to the dorms, we're still in the same area. Tell them who took you, where you went, that I'm here. Tell them about Rei and Jaeyul and everything they did to you, go. You can bring the police here. I will be fine, it's okay, Baekhyun." Baekhyun's gripping onto his arms tightly with shaky hands, eyes watering as Jongin tears away from him, throwing himself at Rei afterwards.

He can only watch as the two land on the ground during their struggle, Jongin throwing punches while Rei tries to kick him off. "You need to go!" Jongin shouts and waves a hand in his direction. He grabs Rei by her ankle when she tries to get up to chase after Baekhyun, pulling her back on to the ground. Baekhyun can only watch in stunned silence before his body screams at him to move, the reality of the situation glaring down at him. He completely gets himself out of the window, landing in the thick snow. The cold air immediately hits him, the boy nearly falling back in surprise before forcing himself to wade through the snow. He didn't know where he was, at least not well. He did, however, remember how to get to the dorms once he was close enough. 

He pulls his arms around himself tightly to shield himself from the harsh winter air, warm tears prickling at the back of his eyes. How could he have left Jongin like that? Of course the other one told him to, but that didn't mean he had to listen to him. A choked sob leaves his small frame as he makes his way down the empty street, picking up his pace as he looks back. He couldn't help but think that Jaeyul or Rei would pop out at any moment. 

"I'll come save you Jongin, just like you came and saved me. I promise. Please just hold on a little longer." 

 

Yixing and Luhan have managed to herd the remaining members into Chief Kim's office, the other officers already in his office as well. "What's going on?" Junmyeon asks in a tired voice. Yixing rests a hand on the small of his back before pulling the man close to his side and rubbing his back soothingly. 

"Yixing and Luhan have talked me into letting you guys participate with the case. However," he quickly cuts off the members when they start to chat among themselves excitedly, "once I see you putting your health at risk or your lives on the line, I'm pulling you off. You'll also be working closely with my officers for different areas. I think it would just be more organized that way. Now, if you won't mind I'll start putting everyone into groups." He waits for the members to grow completely silent before turning to look at his officers. "Seokjin and Hoseok, you'll be working with Yixing and Junmyeon on tracking down Park Chanyeol and Yeon." He watches as the two officers nod their heads. "Luhan and Sehun, you'll be working with Jimin and Jungkook on finding evidence to see if Byun Baekhyun and Kim Jongin's disappearances are related to one another and if they are, why the kidnapper would want Kim Jongin as well." Luhan groans silently when seeing that the two timid men were the same ones he chewed out at the front desk. "Kyungsoo, Jongdae, and Minseok, I'll have you patrol the area with Yoongi once we've narrowed down on an area that Park Chanyeol and Yeon were last seen at it. That'll be it for now." 

Sehun moves closer to Luhan's side, his eyebrows furrowed as he nervously glances at Jungkook and Jimin. He wishes he had been put on group that was working on finding Chanyeol and Yeon, he felt as though he could offer some help. After all, he felt responsible for letting Yeon leave in the middle of the night. He could have stopped her and he didn't. He hadn't yet shared his experience with the others, he wasn't sure if he would get into trouble or not. Still, it was important information he had. "Chief Kim, I would like to be placed in the same group with Seokjin and Hoseok please." He quickly blurts out, Luhan looking over at him with a scandalized look. 

"Am I not good enough for you, Sehun?" He huffs with his arms crossed over his chest. 

"Why?" Chief Kim asks, ignoring Luhan's offended glare and Sehun's anxious state. 

"I think I have information that might help us find them and I feel like I don't have anything to contribute to Luhan, Jungkook, or Jimin." Chief Kim carefully looks him over, his eyebrows furrowed before letting out a long sigh. "Sehun, listen--"

"I can switch with him." Junmyeon speaks up. "If Sehun thinks he can help them further their progress then I don't want to stand in the way of that. I'm not too great with technology anyway, so I might be better working with Luhan, Jungkook, and Jimin. After all, I think I could help show that their disappearances are connected." 

Chief Kim stays silent for a moment before nodding his head. "Alright, if you two are fine with switching then go ahead. Does anyone else want to switch? Do it now or forever hold your peace, I'm not letting you switch afterwards." He looks around the room before waving his hand dismissively. "Alright then, you're free to go."

Junmyeon gently pats Sehun on the back as he walks by him, joining Luhan, Jungkook, and Jimin afterwards. Sehun looks back, timidly making his way over to Yixing, Seokjin, and Hoseok. "I was thinking we could go over everything at my work space and let Sehun share the information he has." Seokjin says as he leads the group out of the chief's office. "I don't want us to hide anything from one another, it could be a huge factor in us either solving or not solving the case. Is everyone on the same page?" 

Everyone nods their heads, humming in agreement as they make their was to Seokjin's desk. He pulls out an extra two chairs, Hoseok dragging his over from his neighboring desk. "So, I guess we should start with Sehun then, right?" He announces once everyone's seated around his desk. "What made you want to be on this group? What kind of information did you have?"

Sehun nervously tugs at the sleeves of his sweater, feeling himself grow anxious. Would Yixing hate him if he found out that he had kept his information to himself? Would it even make a difference at this point? "Um," he licks over his chapped lips anxiously, "I saw Yeon the night she disappeared." He can feel everyone's eyes on him, though he could feel Yixing's the most. He squirms slightly under the intense gazes. 

"At what time?" Hoseok asks, grabbing a pen from Seokjin's drawer so he could take down notes on his notepad. 

"Around three in the morning, I think." 

"Where?"

"She was at the dorms. I woke up, I had to use the bathroom and then I needed a drink of water. When I walked out of the hall and into the kitchen I saw Yeon in the living room." He briefly glances in Yixing's direction before staring back down at his lap.

"Did she say anything to you?" Seokjin asks calmly. "Sehun, you aren't in any trouble unless you helped her flee. Did you?" He quickly shakes his head no in response. "Then you can talk to us. Don't feel nervous, we aren't here to judge. We just need to get the information from you so we can apply it to the case. Did you see Chanyeol too?" 

"No, I only saw Yeon. If Chanyeol was with her then he wasn't in the same room."

"What did she look like when you saw her?"

"Yeon?" He asks, clearing his throat afterwards. "She was wearing normal clothes, but I don't think they were hers. The shirt was really baggy; she tucked them into her jeans. Her jeans were baggy as well, but not as bad as her shirt. I noticed she was still wearing her hospital slippers though, which I thought was odd." Hoseok is jotting down notes as Sehun speaks, glancing up at him every few seconds. "I asked her what she was doing here and how I thought she wasn't supposed to be discharged yet."

"Did she say anything to you regarding that?" Hoseok quickly asks. 

"She said she'd been discharged early and that, uh," he rubs at his arms nervously. Could he get her in trouble for this? Yeon had helped them so much, he didn't want to risk her safety in any way, but still, he needed this case to be solved. "She said she could be jailed...and if she fled to China that she would be safe there." He swallows thickly at this. Yixing, Seokjin, and Hoseok all look at him. 

"She fled to China?" Hoseok asks just to make sure. 

"That doesn't make sense, her location wasn't pinned in China." Seokjin mutters as he leans back in his seat. 

"She lied then." Yixing speaks up. "She lied so that Sehun wouldn't question her too much. It was a believable lie and Chanyeol was probably waiting for her outside. They were on a time limit, Junmyeon gets up early. If the two of them wanted to escape, they would need to do so before Junmyeon wakes up."

"Why would it matter if Junmyeon's awake or not?" Hoseok asks.

"Because Yeon needed to grab her stuff from the dorms. Obviously she couldn't just waltz in during the middle of the day. Junmyeon would throw way too many questions at her and throw her back in the hospital. Also, how easy would it be to escape from a hospital in the middle of the day? It would be impossible. I think it's clear that she's not in China, Chanyeol is with her." Yixing runs a hand through his hair tiredly. "Chanyeol was upset the day before he disappeared. He was angry that we were withholding information about Baekhyun. Knowing him and how stubborn he is, he probably took off on his own to find Baekhyun. I just don't know why Yeon would go with him. She's more rational than he is, if anything she would have scolded him for such thinking."

"Could it be possible that Chanyeol took Yeon with him because she's good with tracking?" 

"What would they even be tracking though?" Yixing groans out as he slumps against his chair. 

"We don't know that part yet." Hoseok mumbles as he taps his pen against Seokjin's desk. 

"Could it be that Chanyeol's having Yeon track the phone she lost?" Sehun suggests. "After we found Yeon, she stated how she lost her smartphone during the incident. She still had her business phone on her, but her actual phone was gone. It was left in her bag and she said that she believed the people who kidnapped her took it. It could be that Chanyeol found out about this and had Yeon track it down. I think it's plausible."

"And if the phone isn't completely destroyed they could probably track it down to where it was last before powered off or destroyed. It's a reach, but based off Chanyeol's behavior it might not be that much of a reach." Seokjin hums while glancing over at Hoseok. 

"Do you have any updates on the tracking?" Yixing asks softly, hands curling up as they rest on his knees. "The area they're in?" Seokjin turns his computer so that Yixing and Sehun can see the screen.

"When tracking Chanyeol's phone, you can see that they've been bouncing around." Hoseok explains, using the end of his pen as he draws imaginary circles over each separate point they've been to. "When they left the hospital they went straight to the dorms, so Sehun's story checks out. Afterwards, it appears that they went to an area not too far outside of Gangnam." He follows the trail with the pen, tapping on the screen at where the motel would have been. "Now they seem to be going back inside Gangnam. Yoongi, Minseok, Jongdae, and Kyungsoo just left not too long ago to patrol the area for sightings of Chanyeol and Yeon. They have a laptop in their car and they can see the same screen as we can. It's a live tracking feed so they'll be following the exact path in Gangnam." 

"Do you think they'll spot them?" Sehun asks with wide eyes as he leans forward. 

"I imagine they will eventually. After all, they are following the exact path but..." Seokjin purses his lips as he leans back in his seat. "Chanyeol and Yeon could be aware that we're on to them, so they might be a little more sneaky, and we also have the possibility of Chanyeol dumping his phone somewhere if Yeon pointed out that he could be tracked."

"There's a possibility that Yeon doesn't even know that Chanyeol even has his phone on him." Yixing says before shaking his head. He couldn't believe that Chanyeol would bring a trackable phone with him when they were doing the very same thing. He shouldn't be surprised, Chanyeol doesn't think rationally when driven by emotions. 

"So what do we do now?" Sehun asks as he checks the time on his phone. 

"We wait."

 

"Are you sure this is right?" Chanyeol asks warily as he drives down a neighborhood. "I thought you said it stopped tracking."

"It's tracking again." Yeon says as she looks around the neighborhood they're in anxiously. "I guess they turned it on? I don't know why they would do that though..." Something wasn't sitting right inside her. "I think we should stop to think about this, Chanyeol. This isn't making sense." 

"No, we're almost there. The phone is leading us straight to where they are. We can't stop, what if Jongin needs us?" 

"Chanyeol, this can't be safe." Yeon was growing more and more anxious with each passing second, eyebrows furrowing as Chanyeol takes a right turn, leading down another residential street. It was nice, the houses large and grand. "Is this the right area? Why would my phone be here?" She pauses slightly when they reach the end of the path. "It ends here." She says as his car sits in the middle of the street. "They must have turned it off..."

"Then we'll knock on every single door here. We'll act like concerned friends, well, _we are_ , but your phone is in this area and that alone is suspicious. Who drives to a neighborhood like this just to dump a phone? It's too out of the way." He mumbles as he pulls up into a driveway. "We just knock on each door asking about Jongin. You can leave all the talking to me." He says when seeing the anxious expression on her face. "I can say, 'oh, have you seen this guy around?' and hold up a picture of Jongin on my phone."

She leans back against her door when noticing the phone in his hand, eyes narrowing as she glares at him. "You brought your phone with you?" She groans loudly when he only nods his head. "Park Chanyeol, why on earth would you bring your phone with you? The police could track it! This is _exactly_ what we're doing now!" His face reddens out of embarrassment as the situation finally strikes him. 

"Should I turn it off?"

"Yes, of course you should turn it off! They can track you with that!" She waves her hand before opening the passenger door, stepping out and exhaling a shaky sigh. Her blood pressure levels must be through the roof at this point. "Let's just-- do you have another picture of Jongin on you or is it only on your phone?"

"Only on my phone." He says as he turns off his car, stepping out as well. 

"Then I guess we'll keep it on." 

 

Chanyeol and Yeon sit in his car in silence, Chanyeol driving to the last house on the street. They had visited all the other houses, nothing coming up and some being mildly irritated that they would even show up and ask about their missing friend. Yeon was starting to think that they just dumped her phone here somewhere, though after searching through trash cans and shrubs they both came up empty handed and with no phone. Chanyeol was persistent though and she knew he wouldn't rest unless they tracked every house on the street. 

"What should we do after this?" Yeon's voice is small and tired, the girl gazing out the window. 

"I don't know yet. Should we go back to the dorms after this?" Yeon stifles a laugh as she shakes her head. 

"You really didn't think any of this through at all, did you?" She undoes the buckle as he pulls up to the last house, something about it giving her an off feeling. She shrugs it off though, turning to look at Chanyeol. "After you." He says and unlocks the car door, watching as she climbs out. The sun was starting to set, Yeon and Chanyeol only then realizing just how long they've spent searching the areas for her phone. She glances over at the house in front of them. It was a very modern looking house, the exterior of the house painted a soft beige with the roof being made up of black and brown tile. It was definitely a unique house, she hadn't seen many of them like this before. She can hear Chanyeol mumbling about how square the house looks and how he's only seen them in HGTV magazines. 

"I don't understand how people can afford such nice houses." Her cheeks redden slightly when realizing who she's speaking to. "Well, I know that's fruitless to you, but--"

"No, this is a really nice house." Chanyeol agrees as he looks around with wide eyes. He snorts silently when seeing a beautiful banner hanging above the door. 

❀ _Property of Jaeyul & Rei _❀

"Tacky." He mumbles though Yeon seems to find it cute. "Does that name look familiar to you though?" It was on the tip of his tongue; something about Jaeyul sticking out to him. He couldn't place his thumb on it though. 

"Nope, nothing." Yeon shakes her head as the two approach the door, Chanyeol pressing down on the doorbell.

"Ah, must be a popular name then."

"Must be." She agrees just as the front door opens, revealing a woman in a blue dress. 

\---

_A/N: look i know y'all are gonna hate me now but i---_

_i hAVE REASONS OK TRUST MY REASONS I WILL WALK YOU GUYS THROUGH THIS HOLD MY HAND IF YOU NEED TO LMAO_

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_**also, only a few more chapters left** _


	23. I'm Home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: short chapter, but i think it's worth it.

Yeon smiles politely as she looks at the woman behind the door, Chanyeol immediately getting to work and asking her about Jongin. She watches as the woman places a hand on her chest, a concerned expression on her face. "That's awful." She says softly before tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "And you have no idea where he went?"

"None." Chanyeol knew better than to give out too much information. After all, he knew Yeon's phone was somewhere in this area. "So now we're just going door to door and asking people if they've seen him or any suspicious activity." 

"That must be extremely tiring, you _poor_ things." Yeon smiles slightly, though inches closer to Chanyeol absentmindedly. "But I understand what you're going through. When I was a teenager my father went missing; we never found him." She leans against her doorway, the end of her dress fluttering slightly in the winter breeze. "It's a very traumatizing thing to go through." She was very pretty, Yeon thought. She had a sense of class to her, something she just couldn't place her finger on. She jumps slightly, startling Yeon and Chanyeol. "Where are my manners? You poor kids are standing out in the snow and I don't even offer you inside." She scolds herself and Chanyeol can't help but smile. 

"That's alright, ma'am. There'll be no need." He locks his phone and places it in his back pocket. 

"I insist. It's so cold out. At least come inside for a cup of hot chocolate or coffee and then go on your way. You kids look too tired to be driving when it's getting this dark out." Chanyeol and Yeon exchange looks with one another. They're speaking through their eyes, Chanyeol asking for Yeon's approval. She shrugs in response before nodding her head.

"Just for a bit, I guess. One cup of coffee, right?" 

"Of course. I won't keep you for too long." She opens her door wider, moving to the side so she could let the two in. Yeon can't help but to instinctively grab on to the end of Chanyeol's sleeve, following him closely as she looks around the house. The floor was made of a dark brown, chocolate almost, wood paneling and the walls painted a color similar to the woman's dress. It was a pretty interior design. She looked around to see pictures lining the walls, some of people and some of random objects. 

"You have a lovely house." Yeon says gently as they're brought to white fluffy chairs, a black coffee table just a few feet away. 

"Thank you, that's so kind of you to say." She says with a soft smile, gesturing for the pair to sit down on the white love seat. "I'll be out with your coffee in just a minute, please make yourselves comfortable." With that she's gone, Yeon and Chanyeol sitting down on the love seat. 

"She seems nice." Chanyeol mumbles as he rubs at his jeans tiredly. 

"A little too nice." She whispers as she continues looking around the room. "Isn't it a little weird?"

"Maybe, or maybe she's just a woman concerned about what's going on. It's not safe outside." He defends, leaning back against the soft material of the seat. "We'll figure something out tonight when we leave." He frowns slightly when noticing the woman wince beside him. "Are you alright?"

"I'm still sore." She whispers as she rubs at her side soothingly. "I wasn't supposed to be discharged for another week, you know." She chuckles lowly. "My injuries haven't completely healed yet and your health isn't good yet either, you know that right?" 

"You're very motherly, do you know that?" She rolls her eyes at Chanyeol's words. 

"That doesn't make me wrong. Just be careful. And we need to keep in mind that my phone is somewhere in this area, so no one is innocent until we find it." She whispers out, her face scrunching up in pain before leaning back against the couch. "I've been running around too much. Maybe I should have asked for tea instead of coffee." 

The two look up when the woman pops back into the room, two glasses of coffee in her hands. "Hope I didn't take too long." She says as she gracefully places them on the coffee table in front of her. "Oh, are you alright?" She asks when noticing Yeon's pained expression. 

"O-Oh, yeah I'm fine." She waves her hand lazily before picking up her glass of coffee.

"You aren't...hurt, are you?" She keeps a keen eye on Yeon, watching as she blows on the beverage before taking a sip of it. 

"No, no. Just sore from exercising last night. I must have pulled something." She lets out a nervous chuckle before taking another sip of her coffee. The woman then glances at Chanyeol, watching as he brings his coffee up to his lips, giving it a second to cool before sipping on it. 

"You know you're doing dangerous work, right?" The woman asks only after Chanyeol and Yeon have drunk more than half of their coffees. 

"What do you mean?" Chanyeol asks with a raised eyebrow. "Hardly that. We're only going door to door and asking if they've seen anything. Hardly dangerous in my book."

"Is that so? You're naive." Her tone is low and sharp as she speaks with Chanyeol. He furrows his eyebrows in response, Yeon growing still beside him. Her vision was starting to blur, the room moving ever so slightly. 

"Maybe, but we're only going to the front doors of houses." 

"What if a monster opens the door?" 

"Chanyeol." Yeon blurts out as her shaky hands drop the glass of coffee onto the floor, the glass shattering on the wood beneath her. "Chanyeol, she put something in the coffee." Chanyeol immediately looks down at his drink, eyes widening as he shoves the drink away from him. He didn't feel anything, nothing felt different. It's not until he gets up, however, that it all hits him at once. His body drops back onto the couch, his legs feeling like jelly. He tries to push himself up, arms shaky and feeling as if they were made of nothing more than sticks. 

"It can be dangerous to walk up to someone's door, especially when you know nothing about the people living inside." The woman in the blue dress says calmly as she pushes herself up from her chair. "I've drugged you. Roofies, ever heard of it?" She walks over to Chanyeol and Yeon, watching silently for a moment as the two struggle. Yeon's injuries were acting up as she squeezes her eyes shut, balancing herself against the couch. 

"You shouldn't stand for too long if your leg is bothering you." She sends a harsh kick to her injured leg, watching it buckle in on itself as she collapses to the floor. "There, I helped you sit." She turns her attention on Chanyeol. "I knew you'd come if I turned on her phone. You're too predictable, has anyone ever told you that before? It's like luring a mouse with cheese." She scoffs as she moves away from the pair. "You were getting way too involved, it was becoming dangerous. You guys were so clueless until you had to get the _bitch_ involved." She speaks with disgust as she glares down at Yeon. "I didn't really want you Chanyeol, but I guess you're a packaged deal, huh? I mean let's be honest, if you left to look for Baekhyun on your own it'd be like watching a chicken run around with it's head cut off. You brought Yeon though, possibly the only one with brains out of your group. And you know, Jaeyul never meant to let her escape. I'm always the one cleaning up his messes. I get it Yeon, I truly do." She scoffs as she walks back towards the collapsed girl. "Leave it to the women to have the brains. What would the men do without us, huh?"  

She sighs when seeing Yeon unconscious, bending over and pulling up the girl. "Maybe Jaeyul will be forgiving with you, Chanyeol. After all, he really only wanted her. He didn't mean for her to get away the first time. Then again, you've already seen my face and where I live. It'd be too risky to let you go I suppose. We'll make do with what we can. Our last playmate is a little...roughed up. Won't be much use of anything for the next several days at least. He should have just behaved himself. Shame." She watches with no remorse as Chanyeol tries to get up and follow her. 

"Wait your turn, dear, no need to be jealous. I'll be back and we'll get our quality time. I promise." She mumbles before disappearing down the hall with Yeon.

 

Junmyeon rubs his temples tiredly as he sits at the kitchen counter. It was almost eleven at night and they were sent home for the remainder of the night. Chief Kim stated that everyone needed a full night of rest if they wanted to participate the next day and that the officers would continue working over night. Luhan had started to protest against this, though Chief Kim wasn't having any of it. He was also frustrated due to the lack of progress they came back with. Yoongi, Minseok, Kyungsoo, and Jongdae came back after patrolling for two hours. He didn't understand how they didn't find anything when they directly followed Chanyeol and Yeon's trail. Yoongi claimed that Chanyeol's car wasn't seen anywhere in the neighborhood and that they did a thorough search, checking every car in the driveway as well as shrubs and trash cans in order to find a discarded phone. But they came up empty handed. Minseok made a point of telling Junmyeon that their tracker stopped working after a while anyway.

It must mean that Chanyeol turned off his phone, he would have never discarded it. He loved that damn thing too much. He runs a hand through his hair before burying his face into his arms. What was he going to do? Did it even make a difference helping the police? It really only felt like a pity effort at this point. They kept losing members and they weren't making any progress. He really only kept Chanyeol out of the loop with his best interest in mind. He was on the verge of having a heart attack for Christ's sake, what was he supposed to do? Let him in on everything? Go in and be like, _'hey! Jongin just got fucking kidnapped with Yeon!'_ because yeah, he could just see that going _so_ well. 

He was growing tired of it. Of everything to be more specific. He grabs his car keys from the counter, clutching on to them tightly. How many times would he just sit back and watch something happen to one of his members? He should be out there, not Chanyeol and Yeon. He sighs as he grabs his winter coat from the living room chair, quickly putting it on before slipping on his shoes. His members needed him and that's exactly why he was going to go out and figure this out on his own. He couldn't put anyone else's life at risk anymore. He could live with himself if something happened to him, but what he couldn't live with was Jongin getting kidnapped, Yeon getting attacked, Chanyeol being hospitalized and then running off like a goddamn madman. He could do it himself. He didn't know how, but he knew he could. It's when he opens the door that he's greeted by something that he wasn't expecting. 

Junmyeon would have expected an officer, Chanyeol, maybe even Yeon. Hell, he would have expected to see Jongin before this. He takes a step back, vision blurring as he shakes his head quickly. "I'm losing my mind. Everyone joked about it, but holy shit I've finally lost my fucking mind." His laugh is hysterical, not one that contains humor. In fact it was extremely hysterical, to the point where bedroom doors were opening in the distance and bare feet padding against the tiled floor could be heard. "Why does this always happen to me? Am I just destined to be the one who goes insane? How did Chanyeol get admitted for health issues and not me? I have to check myself out of this investigation. I need to go into a fucking psych ward." He laughs louder as he walks away from the door, stopping when seeing the shocked and dazed expressions on the other members. 

That's when he freezes, a cold sweat breaking out over his skin. "I am the only one seeing things, right?" He asks slowly. "I am seeing things, am I not? Guys," his voice is rising when they don't answer, all of their gazes locked dead set on the door. He spins around on his heels, gasping loudly when it hits him. "Baekhyun? Byun Baekhyun?" His voice cracks and it's as if his legs are jelly, the boy falling to the floor within seconds. He feels strong hands wrap around his arm, pulling him back up within seconds. He didn't bother to look and see who pulled him up, he was too focused on Baekhyun.

" _Holy shit._ " Junmyeon can't make out who said that, only that it was someone from behind him. He was feeling too lightheaded, everything around him hitting him at every angle and at every speed. Was this real? Was this actually real and not one of his fucked up dreams? Was this a cruel prank? A Baekhyun look alike? A zombie? Hell, he'd believe that over this. 

"I'm sorry, but what the fuck is happening?" His voice cracks as he chokes out his question, his vision going in and out as he desperately tries to steady himself. Was he the only one feeling so lightheaded?

It's silent in the room, so silent that if there were a fly buzzing around in the kitchen he'd be able to hear it. Was everyone else as shocked as Junmyeon was? He licks his dry lips, his hand gripping on to the person next to him, Jongdae, he thinks, to keep him from falling on to the floor. "Why is no one speaking?" He asks shakily, not daring to take his eyes off the vocalist standing in the doorway in fears that he would disappear the moment he looks away. 

"Hi, Junmyeon." The black-haired man whispers with a soft smile. At this, Junmyeon knows that this is not a prank, that this is not some Baekhyun look alike that's found himself at their door. This is Baekhyun, their band member that he thought they had lost so long ago. 

"Baekhyun!" He chokes out and now his vision is blurred for a different reason, tears threatening to spill out at any second. 

"Jongin's in trouble." It's sudden and the words tumble out of his mouth clumsily, though each one doesn't fail to slap Junmyeon in the face. "And I fear that he may not make it if we don't go soon." That one felt more like a stab to his chest than a slap to his face.

It's silent again, that is until there's a sudden and loud thump on the floor, Jongdae swearing under his breath as he quickly bends over to pick up the now unconscious Junmyeon though the other members stay in their spot, staring at Baekhyun with stunned and shocked expressions. 

\---

_A/N: i turned 22 last thursday!! now i'm only 8 years from 30..._

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_also thank you to everyone for the nice comments about my friend. she was recently discharged from the hospital but has a lot of surgeries in her future and she lost her hearing, but still. at least she's alive! honestly, who gets struck in the head and lives? that's pretty badass._


	24. Last of me

Chanyeol wakes up to his head throbbing in a dark room. He can't see much of anything with the exception of his hands if he were to hold them right up to his face. "Yeon? Yeon?" He calls out quietly, unsure of if he was in the room alone. "Yeon, are you here?" He tries to move around, though the lack of sight is making him hesitant. God forbid he bump into something or someone that he didn't want to bump into. 

He was in pain, especially his bottom lip. He carefully runs his index finger over the bottom lip, wincing from the contact. His lip was swollen and he could feel where the blood had dried and clotted on the side of his mouth. Someone must have busted his lip. 

He didn't remember much other than knocking on doors with Yeon earlier in the day. They were chasing after her phone before they stopped at the last house on the block. That's when his mind drew blank. He remembered the house, the color blue, and that was about it. The taste of coffee lingers on his tongue. Had he drank coffee? That still doesn't explain why he's in a dark room with a busted lip. They must have gotten themselves into trouble. His heart sinks and leaps at the same time, something he didn't think was possible before that. Did he run into Jongin's captor? Baekhyun's captor? Did they have the same captor? 

"Yeon!" His voice is hoarse as he continues to call out for the woman he was with earlier. He hears a grunt from somewhere in the room, immediately stilling. His blood ran cold and the hairs on his arms were standing straight up, goosebumps breaking out across the surface of his skin. The grunt was deeper than a woman's. His guard was up, his heart pumping wildly in his chest as he tries to wrap his head around everything. Was he hearing things? He knew that if left in the complete dark for a while people's minds could start to play tricks on them. Maybe this was the case now. However, he hears the grunt again though this time it was louder and...closer? He shuffles back, his feet kicking out in front of him as he tries to scoot as far back as possible. His back suddenly hits a wall behind him, letting him know that he cannot go any further. 

"W-Who's there?" Chanyeol's seen enough horror movies to know that this was a stupid move. You never call out when you're alone in a room and you think someone's chasing you. Then again, you've never been in this kind of situation, have you? He needed to know if someone was in the room with him or if it was just all in his head. Maybe there was someone in here with him and he just made himself known, but then again with the amount of times he called for Yeon he was already out in the open. But what if it was someone else who was trapped? Someone else who needed his help? He shakes his head quickly. He needed to stop playing hero so much. One day it was going to get him killed.

"Chanyeol?" The voice calls out, a voice so familiar that he could almost put his finger on it. Almost...

"Jongin?" He abruptly leans forward, eyes wide as they desperately try to adjust to their surroundings. "Jongin, is that you?" Well, he sure hoped it was. 

"Yeah...yeah...Chanyeol, what are you," his voice was breathy, the other man struggling just to talk, "what are you doing here?" 

"I don't know. I don't remember anything. Yeon and I were knocking door to door asking about you and ~~\--~~ "

"Why would you do that? That's so dangerous. Jesus, it's no wonder you're here now." On any other circumstance Jongin's attitude would have annoyed Chanyeol, but given that he's just found one of his kidnapped members he'll let it slide. 

"How else was I supposed to find you? I got tired of watching everyone I care about go missing or get attacked. And Junmyeon was hiding everything from me! I had to overhear them arguing with each other to find out that you went missing. Jesus Christ." He swears loudly, his anger kicking back up again.

"I know you're angry, but keep that for when Jaeyul and Rei come back for us. It will do nothing for you right now." 

"How did this happen? Where are we? Who took you?" Chanyeol was squinting in hopes of being able to see the other better, though that didn't seem to be working. He carefully and clumsily stands up, his body swaying slightly as he tries to balance himself. 

"What are you doing?" Jongin asks when hearing Chanyeol shuffling around somewhere in front of him. 

"Sitting next to you." He says as he immediately drops to the ground by Jongin's side, his legs burning just from walking the few steps toward him. What had happened to him? "Anyway, what happened? How did you end up here?"

"I was kidnapped." He deadpans and Chanyeol leans over to flick at Jongin's arm. "Baekhyun's psycho ex-boyfriend kidnapped me is what. And his sister is just as psycho too apparently." Chanyeol's heart drops at this. Baekhyun's ex-boyfriend? Why on earth would he want Jongin and apparently Chanyeol as well. "I woke up in their living room, which is way too homey to be normal, by the way. I mean, who has that many pictures on their walls?" A flash of white and blue rush to Chanyeol's mind so fast that he felt lightheaded. 

"Did he say...did he say why he took you? Why he would do this?"

"Payback for making Baekhyun break up with him." Jongin mumbles as he leans his back against the cold and hard wall behind him. His body was aching, every muscle in his body screaming for relief. Rei really did a number on him this time. "Oh, you should know this." Chanyeol turns to the direction of the voice, an eyebrow raising in anticipation. Then it dawns on him that Jongin can't see him or his facial expression either. 

"What?"

"Baekhyun's alive." 

 

Baekhyun watches Jongdae carry Junmyeon over to the couch, gently placing him down on it. He was concerned about his leader, but he really had no idea how much longer they'd have. He's putting most of his weight on to his good leg, his other ankle throbbing as he shifts uneasily. "He helped me escape, but ~~\--~~ " 

"I can't believe you're back." Sehun's running to him at the speed of light, engulfing the shorter male in a tight hug that lifts him from the ground. "I thought you were dead!" The younger boy is on the verge of sobbing, Baekhyun clinging to him tightly. His eyes scan the room: Junmyeon, Jongdae, Kyungsoo, Minseok, Yixing, and Luhan. 

"Where's Chanyeol?" Baekhyun asks abruptly as Sehun continues to latch on to him. "What's Luhan doing here? Did he rejoin EXO?" Of course he can't get a coherent answer from anyone, everyone in the room too focused on the fact that Baekhyun was back. It seemed that now that Jongdae had properly put Junmyeon on the couch, he allowed the situation to fully register. 

Poor Sehun is pulled off Baekhyun, Jongdae taking his spot and cupping his soft cheeks with his hands. He takes a moment to silently look over Baekhyun's face, eyes filled with tears. "I can't believe you're back. You're here, and I can touch you and and ~~\--~~ " He crushes the man in a tight hug, burying his face in the side of Baekhyun's neck. 

"Where were you? What happened to you? Is your ankle alright?" Kyungsoo asks timidly, lingering by the couch as if he were too afraid to approach Baekhyun. "You need to get to a hospital."

"No, I can't." He pulls away from Jongdae when the other members start to approach. "Did you not hear me? Jongin is in trouble and we don't have much time. He's the reason I'm here right now." 

"You know where Jongin is?" Luhan immediately asks. "Is he alright? He was with you?"

"We were kidnapped by the same person. Jaeyul, it was Jaeyul who took me with his sister, Rei." He speaks quickly and quietly, almost as if he were afraid of someone or something hearing him. "He took Jongin as payback. He blames him for our break-up. I can't, we need to go. Now. His life is in danger and if we stall for too long it won't do us any favors. I can lead you guys to the house, I can take you there myself. We need to go, please." 

The members look around at each other with uncertainty before Yixing speaks up. "We need to get the police involved. We've been working with them to help track down Yeon and Chanyeol and ~~\--~~ "

"Chanyeol? Where's Chanyeol? Who's Yeon? Did someone take Chanyeol?" He urgently grabs Yixing by his hands. "Where is Chanyeol?"

"Chanyeol ran off looking for Jongin. Yeon is our friend who's been helping us look for you. Jaeyul, that's the one who took you right?" Yixing continues once Baekhyun confirms by nodding his head. "He tried to kidnap Yeon earlier as well, but she got away. He took her phone and they were tracking it down. We can't get a hold of either Chanyeol or Yeon."

"They tracked her phone? Jaeyul tried to take Yeon?" Baekhyun didn't know much about anything, though he was already starting to put the pieces of a puzzle together. Spending the last two years with Jaeyul, he's been able to pick up on his motives and his predictability. If Yeon was helping them find him, maybe Jaeyul found out and saw her as a threat. That would give Jaeyul good motive to want her, but what did Chanyeol have to do with this mix? Jaeyul and Rei had nothing out for Chanyeol, only Jongin as far as he was concerned and now possibly this Yeon character. However, Baekhyun knew better than anyone that Jaeyul didn't care who got in his way when it came to getting what he wants. 

"We traced Chanyeol and Yeon's path earlier but it went dead in a neighborhood. Officer Yoongi's laptop froze up and stopped working. We couldn't get a read on anything and they had us retire for the night. It was a nice neighborhood anyway, I'm not sure why Chanyeol and Yeon would go down there." Minseok says from his spot next to Luhan. "Maybe they went knocking door to door asking about Jongin and his whereabouts." 

Baekhyun buries his face in his hands at this. _That idiot._ "Okay. Remember earlier when I said that Jongin was in danger? Well, now it's Jongin, Chanyeol, and whoever this Yeon is. We need to go now. Bring me to the police station, whatever, I don't care, but we need to get someone out if it's not us. Time is not on our side and I know how Jaeyul and Rei are, I know how dangerous and unstable they are. I was never supposed to escape but Jongin helped me. They're going to kill him if we don't go." Baekhyun's becoming more and more frantic with each passing second until he's nearly shouting. 

"Now!" Baekhyun shouts when the members only stand around in shock. It's only then that everyone starts to rush around, grabbing their coats and shoes and keys. He really hoped he'd get to them in time. Who knew what Jaeyul and Rei were planning. Whatever it was, he didn't have a good feeling about it. 

 

Chanyeol really thinks his mind is playing tricks on him now. "I'm sorry, what?" He was refusing to get his hopes up. He didn't want to jump for joy or laugh or anything of the sort, not if this was just some sick trick his mind came up with in order to get him to somehow cope. Was Jongin even really here with him right now, or was he just imagining it? How could he be sure that this was really happening? What if he was still in his hospital bed asleep? What if this was just some twisted nightmare he's been having? Was he actually in a coma? He's seen that kind of thing pulled off in dramas before. 

"Baekhyun's alive, he isn't dead. When I woke up in their living room, Rei called him out ~~\--~~ "

"Who is Rei?"

"The crazy bitch that probably put you in this room with me. Anyway, Rei called out for Kura, which turns out was Baekhyun. They've been keeping him here the last two years as their servant. Crazy, I know. They changed his name and everything, they even call me Oni. Did they give you a name yet?" Chanyeol's unable to give an answer though, his mind has been too hung up on the, _'Baekhyun's alive,'_ and _'kept as a servant for two years,'_ part. Baekhyun's alive? He's alive? There's a wetness that drips onto his hands from his face and Chanyeol hasn't even realized that he's crying. It's like the world has been pulled off his shoulders, like the world is actually being nice to him for once. 

His frame shakes as he lets out a sob, hot tears streaming down his face as he just lets everything out. Baekhyun's alive, he's not dead. He hasn't been dead. He's never been dead. He needs to let this register. Yes, he's believed he's been alive from the start, but that doesn't mean that he didn't struggle with this or had his doubts from time to time. "Oh my god," his words slur together as he struggles to speak through his tears, "he's alive. He's really alive." His shaky hands try to wipe the tears from his own face as every memory of Baekhyun rushes to him. 

"W-Where is he? Is Baekhyun here?" He feels adrenaline rush through him at the very thought of being in the same building as him, but he feels dread as well when realizing what exactly he had been through. "They made him a servant for two years? And kidnapped you because he broke up with Jaeyul?"

"Baekhyun..." Jongin sighs as he leans his head back against the wall. Why had things gotten so complicated? "We were planning an escape and Jaeyul walked in on us. We jumped him and Baekhyun escaped. I stayed behind to fight Rei off. You can see how well that landed...well, I guess you can't really see but figuratively speaking..." 

"Baekhyun escaped? So he's probably at the dorms then, right? That means we'll be found soon." Chanyeol speaks with excitement, which was confusing to Jongin as he could still hear the other crying as he spoke. He didn't question it; after all he had been used to Baekhyun's presence the last several days, or however long he's been here, and Chanyeol's only found out seconds ago. He's been the only one to actually see Baekhyun since he went missing so he had no idea what his mind would be like if he were in Chanyeol's position. 

"We just have to worry about what will happen to us while we wait for help to arrive. Rei's pissed about his escape and definitely took it out on me. I think she broke one of my ribs." He mumbles as he adjusts himself against the wall. "And I can't tell if I can't see because of the darkness or because she messed up my eyes." Chanyeol cautiously turns and looks to his side.

"Rei's his sister, right?" Maybe Chanyeol had a concussion, he wasn't sure. 

"Yes. Rei is Jaeyul's sister. Jaeyul is Baekhyun's ex-whatever. I wouldn't go as far as saying he was ever Baekhyun's boyfriend." 

Chanyeol squeezes his eyes shut as he leans forward, burying his face in his hands as he desperately tries to remember everything. His mind was a scrambled mess right now. He supposes being hit in the head a few times will do that to a person. 

❀ _Property of Jaeyul & Rei _❀

He suddenly jerks when realizing that he and Yeon had walked right up to Baekhyun's ex-boyfriend's house. How could he forget about Jaeyul? 

"Holy shit." Chanyeol gasps out as he turns to look at the other with wide eyes. "How could I forget about him? And all the shit he put Baekhyun through? I'm gonna kill him. I swear to you, Jongin, I'm going to kill that fucker as soon as I get out of here." Jongin sighs as he listens to Chanyeol speak. His temper was raging, but he wasn't surprised. He wasn't one to mess with once his anger ran over. Jaeyul would get his just desserts, that he was sure of. 

"How? We're stuck in here and no one knows where we are. Rei hurt me pretty bad, I don't think I'd be of much help to you, Yeol." 

"What did she do to you?" Chanyeol asks as he tries to calm himself down. 

"You could say that she didn't take too kindly to Baekhyun and I knocking out her brother." Jongin pulls at a loose string on the side of his pants while speaking. "So she roughed me up. First she beat me, and I mean _boy_ , can that woman pack a punch." Chanyeol thinks he's trying to be lighthearted. "I think she sprayed me in my face with pepper spray. She sprayed me with something and next thing I know I'm on the ground, I can't see, she's kicking in my ribs, and then she's pulling me up by my hair and throwing me into the wall. I couldn't even defend myself due to the pepper spray. And I think," there's a sharp inhale from him before he exhales, "I think she stabbed me at one point. It was after she sprayed me; I still couldn't see. I just suddenly felt a sharp pain in my side and then there was this overwhelming feeling of dread and pain."

"She stabbed you? You've been stabbed?" Chanyeol's scrambling over to his side, trying to see if he can see any wounds on the other in the dark. "Does it hurt?"

"Of course it hurts. I feel like I'm being stabbed all over again every time I breathe. I can't tell if she missed anything vital, or if my body is just running off adrenaline and shock. I can't tell if I'm bleeding anymore. Wait, I'll check." He places a hand over his side, wincing as he pulls his hand away and rubs his fingers together. "I think I'm still bleeding, Chanyeol." 

"A lot? Are you bleeding a lot? Wait," he pulls his shirt off immediately, balling the fabric up in his hands and then pressing it to Jongin's side, "am I in the right spot?" Jongin takes the shirt from Chanyeol, moving it to the correct position. 

"I can't tell if I'm bleeding a lot. And I can't tell if I can't see or if I'm dizzy because of how dark it is. I just feel like my eyes are already closed. I haven't tried to get up, but I don't think I can walk. She hit my ankles with something."

"She hit your ankles? Are they broken?"

"I don't know and I don't know what with. I was on the floor ~~\--~~ I guess it could have been a lamp or something." Chanyeol sits in a stunned silence as he stares at the man beside him. "She purposely didn't kill me because she wanted Jaeyul to deal with me. I don't know why you're here. They never brought you up or anyone else."

"That's okay, that's okay." Chanyeol says mostly to himself as he buries his face in his hands. Things were not looking great, and he still had no idea where Yeon was. "When he comes in I'll fight him off. You won't have to do anything. I'll get us out of here and we'll get Yeon on the way out too."

"How?" 

"I don't know. I'll figure it out somehow. Spur of the moment." He felt like slamming his head in the wall. How could he be so useless? "Do you have any idea where they could have brought Yeon?"

"Probably...probably just a separate room." He breathes out heavily. Chanyeol can't miss the way Jongin's tone grows weaker as he continues to talk. He needed to get them out of here quickly. Time definitely wasn't on their side. "They probably...want her. They might blame her for how far we got with this so far. She did...have a huge role...in helping us, you know." 

"We'd need to get to her quick then. Do you think they'd kill her?" He asks with a shaky voice.

"Do I really need to answer that?" Jongin asks softly. He smiles slightly when feeling Chanyeol move closer to his side, the younger boy resting his head on Chanyeol's shoulder. "I can't tell with them. They're both wild cards, so they could want her alive or dead."

"I promise I'll get you out of here." Chanyeol whispers as he rests his head on Jongin's. "Do you know how the place is mapped out? Or where the door in here is? I can feel around for it and ~~\--~~ "

"And what? It's locked, you won't be able to get out. The only way out is when Rei or Jaeyul open the door. There's no windows in here, no unlocked doors, there's no way for us to leave, Chanyeol. So please," his voice sounds pained as he pulls one hand away from the bunched up shirt against his wound, placing his hand over Chanyeol's, "just stay with me for a bit." Chanyeol turns his hand over so that his palm touches Jongin's, fingers intertwining. "Just stay by my side for a bit. I don't feel as scared when you're here." He whispers and stays close to the other's side. "I feel like I can take on the world with you. You somehow always make things go right."

Chanyeol's speechless for a second, a soft smile forming on his lips as he leans back against the wall. "Jongin, what should I do if they come in? If they both come in?"

"If Rei and Jaeyul come in at the same time?" Jongin asks while applying more pressure to his wound with his free hand. He can hear Chanyeol hum in response. "I don't think...you'd be able to take both on at once and I don't think I can do anything. They'd probably...they'd probably just kill us. I don't really...I don't really see this ending well for us, Yeol. But at least you know Baekhyun's alive and that...and that he got away. And at least you're here with me. It won't be so lonely." He feels his heart sink from Jongin's words, tears welling up in his eyes from frustration. This couldn't be it. This couldn't be the end. At least not for Jongin, anyway. And certainly not for Yeon either. Jongin's words were certainly starting to contradict one another, maybe he was growing weaker.

"That can't be it. There must be another way." He feels his eyebrows furrow as he tries to come up with scenarios. "Maybe I can sneak up behind Jaeyul somehow...or maybe I can just throw him to the ground. You said you attacked him earlier, right? He's probably still weak then. So I'll bring him to the floor...maybe I could wrestle him off...that just leaves Rei..." And Jongin. That leaves Jongin too and he had to somehow manage to pull him out if he could even get Rei to the ground. With the way Jongin described her, she'd probably come in with a weapon of some sorts. If he could manage to steal the weapon from her and use it against them...maybe it would go in his favor. However, he still then had to carry around Jongin while searching for Yeon, and then what if she needed to be carried as well? He can only imagine what they would be doing to her. 

"You and I both know that sounds impossible. How will you take on both Jaeyul and Rei, drag me out, and then get Yeon on top of that? They'll wake up and get us, and I would only slow you down."

"We'll lock them in here and then it won't matter how fast I go. They won't be able to get out." Chanyeol was determined to get through this alive. He was determined to get Jongin and Yeon through this alive as well. "And this is my fault. I have to get Yeon out of this. I'm the one who forced her into this and it wouldn't be fair if anything happens to her because of that. I would rather you two get out and I stay behind if it comes to that." 

"I can't leave with you...and odds are when they're done with Yeon," he shakes his head and falls against Chanyeol's side, "she won't be able to leave without you either." His voice is so faint that a sound of alarm goes off throughout Chanyeol's body. "Let's just...stop talking, okay? I can't talk anymore." His hand is barely pressing against the bunched shirt and Chanyeol has to move his position so he can press down on it with his free hand and keep hold of Jongin's other hand with his free one. 

"We'll get out of here, Jongin. I promise." 

\---

_A/N: do any of you guys read twitter aus? i created a twitter just to write aus rIP_

_the au is[here](https://twitter.com/bbyunminseok/status/1028372135167881221) if you're interested. it's  xiuchen and it's angsty. pls support i have like 0 followers lmao _


	25. Last dance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: warning, there's violence in this chapter. some graphic material as well, read with caution. a lot of shit happens, good luck lmao

Baekhyun couldn't keep track of how quickly things escalated. He was in a hospital room now, his hands in fists as he glares out the window by his bed side. He had persisted that he travel with everyone so he could give them proper directions to Jongin's whereabouts, but Chief Kim was too concerned about Baekhyun's health. He was annoyed, everyone left to find Jongin with the police force and left him to rot in a hospital room. His arms are tightly crossed over his chest as the door to his private room opens. 

That is, almost everyone left with the police station. 

"Junmyeon," he smiles faintly when the older man carefully brings a mug of warm tea to his side. "Thank you." He whispers though Junmyeon places it on the nightstand instead of giving it directly to him. A pout forms on his lips, though before he can open his mouth to question the other, Junmyeon's crawling on to Baekhyun's soft bed. He throws his arms around the other tightly, a soft sob leaving him as Baekhyun rubs at his back soothingly. 

"I'm so happy you're back." He whimpers while Baekhyun keeps him close. "I'm so sorry, I should have asked where you were going. I should have told you that it was too late to go out. I should have gone to the movies with you and called off the shoot. If I had done any of those things none of this would have happened. You never would have been kidnapped, Jongin would still be here, Chanyeol never would have ended up in the hospital and then god knows where and ~~\--~~ "

"You're rambling." Baekhyun gently cuts him off, pulling away slightly. "None of this was your fault, Junmyeon. Don't say things like that." He raises his hands and carefully wipes the tears from his face with his thumbs. "This was my decision. I was a grown adult who decided to meet up with Jaeyul. My mind was set; no one was going to change that. Not even you." He playfully pokes his nose afterwards. "You couldn't drop your shoot for me anyway. You would have gotten into so much trouble." 

"But still ~~\--~~ "

"No. No but stills. I don't want to hear it, Junmyeon." The other frowns at this before he moves so that he's now sitting by Baekhyun's side. "Do you think they've gotten there yet? I don't think Jongin has much time. I'm nervous."

"You gave them their address and you gave them detailed directions on how to get there. They should be there soon if they're not already there." Baekhyun wraps his arms around Junmyeon's arm, hugging it tightly and resting his head on his shoulder. "You did everything you could." Junmyeon speaks softly. "You didn't have many options and going back in was clear suicide." 

"I suppose." He can't help but to smile when taking in Junmyeon's familiar scent of cologne. He buries his face in the side of his shoulder as he continues to cling to him. "Maybe this whole thing will finally be over."

Junmyeon glances down at Baekhyun, feeling a soft fluttering of his heart in his chest. "I think you may be right." 

"Hey, Junmyeon?" Baekhyun raises his head and gives the other the sweetest smile he could possibly muster. "Can you do me a favor?"

"What?" Junmyeon asks after a few seconds of hesitation. 

"Can you drive me to Jaeyul and Rei's house so I can get Jongin and possibly Chanyeol?"

"Absolutely not."

"I could get us there before them. Something doesn't feel right, Junmyeon. Something feels really, really wrong."

"Baekhyun..." Junmyeon sighs as he looks away from the other's gaze. 

"Junmyeon, please." He's never heard anyone sound so desperate before. 

"Baek ~~\--~~ "

 _"I think someone might die."_  

 

Chanyeol's still holding on to Jongin, unsure of how long it's been. No one's come in like Jongin said they would and he's starting to think that maybe Jaeyul and Rei forgot about them for the time being. "Jongin, how long do you think it's been?" Talking is the only way to keep his mind off things; what good would it be to just sit in the dark? It would drive him absolutely mad. He glances down at the other when he's given no response. "Jongin?" He moves slightly so he can look at him (the best that he can, anyway). More silence.

"Jongin, you need to wake up." His heart starts to race when he shakes him and still gets no response. "Jongin!" He lifts the shirt that's been pressed to Jongin's side, growing still when feeling how wet the cloth was. "Fuck." He whispers before pressing it back to his side. "Jongin, you can't do this to me. You can't do this when we've gotten so far. Jongin, please." There's a pain in his voice that he's never heard before, a pain that he didn't realize he was capable of having. "Jongin, Jongin please. You can't do this. Please don't do this." Warm tears are streaming down his cheeks as he shakes him gently once again, a choked sob leaving him when Jongin's head lolls back. 

"Jonginnie, listen to me," it's a desperate plea, one that he's sure will fall on to deaf ears, "we're going to get out of here." He presses his head to his chest, straining himself to hear a heartbeat.

There's one, but it's faint. Maybe his plea wasn't falling on to deaf ears.

He feels a sigh of relief rush through him before panic sets in once again. Jongin was dying and he would die if he didn't do anything about it. He gently rests Jongin against the wall, making sure that both of his hands where placed on the shirt covering his wound. "Don't worry, Jongin. I'm going to get you out of here." He jumps to his feet after as he starts to walk around the room. His arms are straight in front of him in an attempt to feel around the room. Right now he's surveying the walls, hoping that after a while it'll lead him to where the door is. His fingers graze over the concrete walls as he maneuvers around. 

It takes a few minutes of blindly stumbling around before his hands land on something metal. He feels around for another second before concluding that it was in fact their door. He had no other options, the door was locked and he needed to get Jongin out of here. What else was he supposed to do?

He balls up his hands into fists, raising them in their air before bringing them down on the door. "Open the fuck up!" He tries his best to sound intimidating, which to be fair, is pretty good. If Jaeyul and Rei weren't going to come on their own, he'd just have to force them into coming earlier. "Hello? Is anyone there? I said open the door!" He continues to bang on the door, his hands starting to throb after a bit. "Open the goddamn door!" He shouts and takes a step back before sending a hard kick to the door. He would beat and beat and beat until he got someone's attention. It was the only thing he could do. 

He can faintly make out voices down the hall. He closes his eyes and swears under his breath. _No, you can't get scared now._  He kicks the door again and continues to shout until the door is swung open. "What the fuck is your problem?" The woman from earlier, Rei, hisses as she shoves him back. Chanyeol stumbles back in surprise though it quickly washes away as his eyes narrow at her. Jaeyul was behind her as well, though he looked a little too roughed up to be too much of a threat. Then again, Jongin described them as wild cards. He couldn't be too careful. 

Rei glances over his shoulder, laughing softly as she turns to Jaeyul. "He's upset. It looks like our playmate died." She gestures with her head to Jongin who's in the corner of the room. Jaeyul's sigh can be heard as Chanyeol turns around to look at Jongin. He can feel his heart shatter into millions of pieces when seeing the state his friend is in. He was slumped against the wall, his two hands covered in blood as they rest limply over Chanyeol's once white shirt. He was covered in bruises, welts, and cuts, his clothes ripped to bits, and his skin a lot paler than Chanyeol remembered it being. He certainly looked dead; Chanyeol doesn't think he's seen anyone alive look like _that._ "Go back to your room and rest; I can take care of them." 

He's frozen in his spot as he watches Jaeyul casually walk away, every agenda, every mission that was in his head now gone. _That_ was Jongin and it looked nothing like him. He's choked up, he can't help but to feel responsible for all of this. He could have gotten him out sooner if he wasn't too busy dicking around in the hospital or rambling about Baekhyun or just trying to wrap his head around everything. He didn't need to know the answers to everything to get Jongin out, yet he just...wasted his time. He wasted all his time and now, now it was too late. 

"Jonginnie." Chanyeol chokes out. It's like all the adrenaline that had been keeping his body up was now gone as the boy falls to his knees with a thud. Why was he constantly losing someone? He gets Baekhyun back and the second he does he loses Jongin. Why couldn't the universe just side with him for once? Why did it always have to be a game of trade? He can hear Rei laugh from behind him as he makes his way over to Jongin, scooping the boy into his arms. "Jongin, Jongin I'm so sorry." He whispers with a shaky voice, tears falling from his cheeks as he keeps him close to his chest. "I won't let anyone hurt you ever again. I promise." He kept making promises that he couldn't keep. This was all becoming too much. 

He stills when noticing something though quickly regains his composure while carefully removing the shirt from Jongin's hands. There was no going back now. He remains still when hearing Rei approaching from behind, the clacking of her high heels coming to a stop as she stops short behind him. He has to bite down on his bottom lip when feeling her hand come down on his shoulder. 

_Perfect._

His hand is wrapped around her wrist as fast as her hand came down, grabbing hold of it tightly and leaning forward in order to use his body weight to lunge her forward and over his back. She's on the ground within seconds, eyes wide in shock as she stares up at him. He stretches out the shirt in his hands as he pounces the woman, straddling her waist as he glares down at her. "Can you take care of them?" He asks in a mocking tone as the bloody fabric is wrapped around her neck, Chanyeol pulling at both ends in order to cut off her oxygen supply. "The thing about you, is that you seem to manipulate your victims into thinking you're some big and scary monster," he grunts out while applying more pressure to her neck, "but I'm twice your size, twice your weight, how will you beat me? I don't let people manipulate me, especially a low-life bitch like you." Chanyeol's never been so harsh in his life with anyone, verbally or physically. 

"What?" He laughs when she's clawing at his hands, Rei desperately trying to get out from underneath him. "You want me to stop? You didn't stop for Baekhyun and you sure as hell didn't stop for Jongin." His eyes are teary as he tries to tune out the woman gasping underneath him, his eyes fixed on a spot on the floor next to her head. "I'm sorry, but if I don't do this then it will never stop. I hope you understand." His voice was detached and distant as he spoke, the words falling from his lips with no real meaning behind them. He regrets glancing back over to her, the moment he does he watches as her life drains from her eyes. Thanks to him. He did that, he was the reason why someone stopped breathing. 

"It's for Jongin, Baekhyun, and Yeon." He whispers to himself as he finally releases his hold on her, falling to his side. He rests his hands on his face before jolting up, vomiting up his last meal. His shaky fingers clutch to the shirt in his hands tightly before he hastily wipes his mouth clean. "Ah, no, no no no." He repeats to himself as he glances back at Rei's lifeless body. "Oh fuck, oh fuck. I ~~\--~~ oh my god. What have I done? What have I done? Mother please forgive me." He crawls back over to Rei's side, giving her one last look over before gently closing her eyes shut. He turns back to look at Jongin, bending over and scooping him into his arms before standing back up. 

Jongin was still breathing, he noticed earlier before Rei approached him. He didn't want to give him away, Rei may have killed him if she realized Jongin wasn't actually dead. "Time to get Jaeyul and then find Yeon, then we're golden." He carries the unconscious boy out of the room, closing the metal door behind him to lock Rei in just in case he had misunderstood the situation and she wasn't actually dead. The bright hall lights make him lightheaded for a moment. He quickly steadies himself before making his way back down the hall. He had no idea where Jaeyul was, all he remembered was Rei dismissing him earlier and telling him to go back to his room. Now if he could figure out where his room was, that would be great. He didn't necessarily want to kick down every door, but maybe that's just what he'd have to do. 

Too bad Jongin wasn't awake to guide Chanyeol around. Maybe it was for the best that Jongin wasn't awake for this. He didn't want Jongin's image of Chanyeol to be ruined. He surely wouldn't have been able to look at him the same if he had seen him with Rei back there. Rei wasn't...as hard as he thought it would be, so hopefully that meant Jaeyul would be easier. Or maybe he would be harder to kill. Kill? Did he really plan on killing him? He wasn't a murderer ~~\--~~ that's not what he wanted to be. He certainly wasn't a serial killer, would that make him one if he killed Jaeyul too? 

Maybe he could just find Yeon and sneak out without Jaeyul noticing. That seemed...farfetched. What was he doing? He couldn't even fight Jaeyul with Jongin in his arms like this. He needed to put the boy somewhere where he'd be safe. Rei was locked in the room and Jaeyul was in his own room, so Jongin should be okay. He carefully places him down against one of the walls, propping him up so that it looked as he if had simply fallen asleep while sitting up. He places the shirt back against Jongin's wound once again before stepping away and turning back around. He approaches the first door he sees, his right hand placed on the door knob in front of him as he carefully and quietly pushes it open. He's met with a bedroom, though an empty one. He cautiously looks around, no Yeon or Jaeyul in sight. He swears silently and closes the door again. 

He jumps nearly six feet when turning around to see Jaeyul right behind him, a fury he's never seen in someone's eyes before, at least not one he's seen directed at him. He quickly backs up, startling himself when he bumps into the door behind him. There's no words shared between the two men, there doesn't need to be any. "What are you doing outside of your room?" Jaeyul seems to be calm and his voice reflects that, though it contradicts the dark look in his eyes. It alarms Chanyeol to no end as he glances back towards the unconscious Jongin. "And why are you dragging the deadweight along with you? Where's Rei?" 

More silence.

Chanyeol doesn't know how to tell Jaeyul that he just potentially murdered his sister. "She's inside."

"Inside the room?" He asks with a raised eyebrow. Why wasn't he fighting him? Why wasn't he yelling at him for escaping?

"Yes. She's inside asleep." Chanyeol's bare foot is tapping nervously against the marbled floor as he avoids eye contact with the other man. 

"Ah," Jaeyul's voice sounds tired as he takes a step back from Chanyeol. "Asleep. She's asleep." He lets out a low laugh, one that's devoid of all humor. It causes goosebumps to break out across Chanyeol's skin as he makes sure to keep a safe distance from him. "I'll be in my room then." Chanyeol watches speechlessly as Jaeyul starts to walk away and down the hall. That doesn't last long though, at least not when he sees Jaeyul whipping out a pocket knife from the pocket in his pants and darting towards Jongin. 

"No!" Chanyeol shouts as he runs in the same direction, determined to reach Jongin before Jaeyul does. He collides into Jaeyul. Hard. He sends them both to the floor, Chanyeol straddling him before wrestling the man for the knife in his hands. Jaeyul's putting up a fight, Chanyeol didn't expect anything less. Over Chanyeol's dead body would he allow Jaeyul to hurt Jongin any further, let alone kill him. It just wasn't something he was going to let happen, wasn't something he would even think about. 

"What did you do to my sister?" The man growls, aiming the knife at Chanyeol's neck. Chanyeol quickly grabs hold of Jaeyul's hands, struggling and applying all his strength to keep the knife from plunging into his skin. 

"Why did you take Baekhyun?" He breathes out, beads of sweat forming on his forehead as his hands start to shake. Jaeyul was stronger than he appeared. He shifts his position, his hands forcing Jaeyul's hands to change their angle, a sharp gasp of pain leaving the other as Chanyeol was sure that if he kept it up he would eventually break his wrists. 

He can hear the metal of the knife hitting the marbled floor when Jaeyul drops finally drops it.

Chanyeol's gaze immediately lands on the knife that's now on the floor, Jaeyul's on the same spot. The two share a brief glance before Chanyeol's lunging forward to grab the weapon, Jaeyul grabbing hold of the other's ankle and yanking him back with all the strength he could apply. Chanyeol keeps the palms of his hands planted firmly on the floor as he tries to resist Jaeyul, a sigh of relief leaving him when he grabs hold of the object. He lets the other finally rip him back towards him, Chanyeol kicking Jaeyul square in his chin. "You," Chanyeol breathes out as he pins the other on the ground underneath him, climbing on top of the man, "why are you doing this? You never had to do any of this." He has the knife tightly gripped in his hands, the end of the blade pointing straight to Jaeyul's heart. "Where is Yeon?"

"I don't know who that is." He answers almost instantly, an annoying smirk displayed on his chapped and bruised lips. 

Chanyeol's hand comes down against Jaeyul's cheek, the sound of the slap echoing throughout the hall. "Where the fuck is Yeon? What did you do to her?" Jaeyul's silent, his eyes staring up at the ceiling as he refuses to speak. Still, Chanyeol is persistent. "I don't think you realize that you aren't getting out of this situation. You aren't leaving this alive. What do you have to lose? Where is Yeon?" 

Chanyeol's losing his patience as he tries to pry information from the other man. "Jaeyul ~~\--~~ "

A grunt from behind him takes all of his attention, Chanyeol whipping his head around to see Jongin hunched over and spitting up blood. "Jongin," Chanyeol's scrambling off Jaeyul within seconds, though before he can reach Jongin he feels his body slammed into the polished floor, his head throbbing from the direct contact. The knife is pulled out of his hands as soon as he touched the floor before he can feel a sharp point pressing into his chest. 

His heart rate is through the roof as he tries to move out of Jaeyul's hold, though he was seemingly not moving. His fist collides into the side of Jaeyul's face, using this as a chance to scramble back to his feet. He's back up within seconds, Chanyeol backing away as Jaeyul approaches him with the knife gripped in his hand. Chanyeol glances back in Jongin's direction before Jaeyul shoves him against the wall, Chanyeol's hands pressed firmly against his shoulders as he tries to keep the man at a distance. "Baekhyun never loved you, he was never going to love you." He chokes out before he feels the blade pressed against his throat. "He didn't need Jongin to talk him into leaving your creepy ass; he was going to do it anyway. Really? Baekhyun looks like the type of person who would date you? You're fooling yourself by living in a delusion." 

Maybe Chanyeol pushed Jaeyul's buttons just a little too much if the punch to his nose is anything to go by. He can taste metallic and cooper as he blinks several times from the shock before he quickly gets over it and grabs Jaeyul by his arms, struggling to get away from him. His eye are constantly glancing between the knife and Jaeyul's face, trying to position himself so that if he does get stabbed it would be in an area that wouldn't be vital or fatal. That's not enough though, not if the sharp and intense pain spreading throughout his chest is an indicator. 

It's hard to breathe, so hard. He glances down to see the knife buried deep in his chest, his own hands shakily wrapping around the weapon. "Holy fuck." He didn't think he'd actually be stabbed ~~\--~~ crazy to think, but it was just one of those things that Chanyeol thought wouldn't happen to him. The two stand there in shock; it seems that Jaeyul hadn't expected that to happen either. 

Chanyeol can't even fully comprehend the situation before a gunshot goes off in the air, blood splattering on him and the wall behind him. His ears are ringing, his left eye twitching from the searing headache he has. Everything's silent, he can't hear anything. He watches in shock as Jaeyul's body collapses to the floor, a puddle of blood pooling by his head. Wide eyes frantically look around the hall, revealing officers rushing to the scene. He thinks they're yelling, their mouths are moving but he can't hear anything. His hands stay glued to the knife in his chest, almost as if he were too afraid to let go. 

He feels like a child who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar when he sees his members running toward him with shocked and horrified expressions. Did he look that bad? He didn't think he was that hard to look at. They shouldn't be here anyway, it's too dangerous. Why would the officers let them in? 

He stumbles back against the wall as he feels his body begin to shut down. It was an indescribable feeling to Chanyeol, how would you describe something like that? He looks up when he feels a pair of hands on his face ~~\--~~ Baekhyun? That didn't seem right, Baekhyun shouldn't be here. There's a feeling of warmth spreading throughout his body as Baekhyun tries to tell him something, though he only sees his lips moving. He looks sad, Chanyeol didn't like that. He liked it when he was happy. Maybe there wasn't much to be happy about. 

He's feeling himself begin to nod off, his head drooping down only to snap back up every time it does so. He's being shaken, a doe-eyed Chanyeol looking back up to meet Baekhyun's gaze. There's tears streaming down his pale cheeks as his lips move quicker, Chanyeol still unsure of what he was saying. He feels his hands being gently pulled from the knife, fingers intertwining with Baekhyun's. Was this real?

_"Chanyeol."_

It's as if all at once everything hit Chanyeol. He hears screaming and shouting from every direction, he can see Yeon in the distance surrounded by officers who have her wrapped in a blanket, Jongin was being carried off on a stretcher. It's when the panic hits him too, Chanyeol nearly screaming when looking down to see the knife in the middle of his chest. "Oh, oh god. Okay, this is bad, right? Isn't it? Should I just pull it out?" That's also when he realizes that Byun Baekhyun is crouched in front of him, squeezing on to his hands so tightly that circulation was starting to be cut off. "Baekhyun!" He tries to lunge himself at the other man for a hug, though Baekhyun quickly dodges and keeps him at a distance.

"Y-You'll push your knife in further!" He shrieks as he keeps his hands out in front of him. "You'll kill yourself you idiot." There's still tears streaming down his cheeks, Chanyeol reaching a shaky hand out to wipe the tears away. 

"Are you real?" He's almost afraid to ask, afraid that this will be like every other dream he's had for the last two years. "Please tell me ~~\--~~ "

He's cut off when a pair of lips collide with his, Baekhyun placing a hand on the back of Chanyeol's head. Chanyeol feels like the air's been knocked out of him before he can snap to his senses and return the kiss, his hands gripping tightly on to Baekhyun's free hand. The kiss is filled with passion and it's uncoordinated, Baekhyun in too much of a rush to actually slow down and take his time. He pulls away within seconds, far too early for Chanyeol's liking. He's staring at Baekhyun with a glazed expression before Baekhyun's lifting the other up to his feet. 

"We have to go now." 

_\---_

_A/N: i can't write fight scenes i'm sorry akgjskh regardless, i'm really proud of this chapter ;;u;;_

_it's almost over. only 2 or 3 chapters left. wowie._

__

_also thanks to everyone who's checked out my xiuchen twitter au so far ;;u;; and nO I DIDN'T CREATE A TWITTER ACCOUNT FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME TO MAKE AN AU. I ALREADY HAVE A PERSONAL TWITTER ACCOUNT GKASHDGKLGL_


	26. This is how it ends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: sorry it took so long to update. i've been in this weird writer's slump plus classes just started up so ya know how that goes. and this is, as the title says, the ending. but there will be an epilogue don't panic ok guys

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this." Junmyeon says as he starts his car up, Baekhyun changing into street wear in the back of his car. "And I can't believe they actually let me take you out for quality time." He mutters as he pulls out of the parking lot. Baekhyun can be heard swearing silently when he almost kicks the seat when trying to slip into his pair of jeans. 

"Look, I'm probably the most well known patient there and they seem to be aware of how shit their food is. Of course they'd let you take me out for a meal." Baekhyun says as he crawls into the passenger seat after changing. 

"Except we are going to Jaeyul and Rei's house." Junmyeon sighs as he types in their address into his GPS. "I cave way too much. I swear, as soon as all of this is over I'm never caving in to any of you little shits ever again." Baekhyun only laughs at this, though the nerves inside of him were starting to take over. He couldn't ignore the negative feeling inside him, one that was screaming at the top of its lungs. He felt like someone would die, be it Jongin or somehow Chanyeol or Jaeyul or Rei. He just knew that someone would die and he just needed to be there. If he was there he might be able to stop Jongin or Chanyeol from getting hurt. He just felt more in control if he was there. 

He shakes his head and glances out the window as Junmyeon speeds in the direction of the house. He didn't want to go back but sometimes things just needed to be done. "What do you think we'll walk into?" Baekhyun asks in a faint tone, his hands in his lap and his foot tapping restlessly. 

"From what you've told me? Who knows. I can't even begin to guess." He says while looking at the GPS. "We should be there in ten minutes."

"Faster." Baekhyun demands. "We don't have ten minutes. Please, Junmyeon." The leader only sighs in response before speeding up the car again. 

"When we get there, please don't go charging inside. I don't want you getting yourself killed." 

"If Jongin or Chanyeol are about to die then I will put my life on the line for them. No questions asked." He was telling the truth and he was content with this. After everything Jongin had done for him and how Chanyeol was so willing to throw himself into the line of fire just to find him...why wouldn't he? "Turn right up here." He blurts, Junmyeon swerving and nearly going off the road from how fast he makes the turn. Baekhyun's struggling to stay sitting up as his eyes shift from the window to Junmyeon. "Thank you, Junmyeon. This means a lot to me."

"Well, don't think that I'm letting you do anything stupid by yourself. I at least feel a little better when I'm able to see you, plus if anything happens I might have some control over the situation. I could protect you if it comes down to it." Junmyeon says while stealing glances at the GPS. "Five minutes away." Baekhyun drums his fingers along his seat, a nervous sigh leaving him as he begins to tap his foot anxiously. 

"...Would it be rude to ask you to drive faster?" A sigh can be heard from Junmyeon in response.

 

Baekhyun's flinging himself out of the car the second Junmyeon pulls into the driveway, not even allowing the man to turn off the car behind him. "Baekhyun! Slow down, please! We don't know what we're running into." Junmyeon calls out as he hurries after the shorter male, swearing under his breath when nearly tripping over his own feet. There was no one else here yet, no other cars in the driveway. Just as Junmyeon's about to question where the cops are Junmyeon stumbles back when seeing several cop cars speeding towards the house. 

"Well, I feel a little better about this." He mumbles as he grabs Baekhyun by his hand, preventing the other from charging into the house. "Can you wait for two seconds? They need to go in before you. Have you forgotten how dangerous these people are?" He asks with a widened eyes as he tugs Baekhyun back a few steps. "The police will handle it first, I'm not losing you for a second time." He mumbles as he moves themselves out of the way as the police go running up the driveway, the remaining members sending Junmyeon and Baekhyun confused expressions. "He insisted." He says as Jongdae and the others approach them with questioning looks. 

"We were told to wait out here in case it's too dangerous inside. We're not even supposed to be here technically." Minseok says from his spot beside Jongdae. "But I don't get it, are we just supposed to wait out in the lawn like this? It feels a little awkward." He mumbles while glancing around, a few officers waiting outside to keep an eye on the group in case anything should happen. 

"There's a lot of plot holes here." Junmyeon mumbles with furrowed eyebrows. 

"We should probably just wait by the cars." Jongdae says while Baekhyun keeps his eye on the house, something in his gut telling him to go inside. He ignores the awkward conversation between the group of men, too fixated to actually pay attention. How could he when everything in his body was telling him to step forward? To go inside the house? His hands are clammy as he takes a step toward the house, only to feel a hand wrap around his wrist and pull him back. 

"Baekhyun," it was Junmyeon's voice, stern and stubborn as ever. He feels his feet root into the ground as he keeps his eyes peeled on the house. There were too many things going on through his mind right now. He had been trapped in this hell hole for two years, two years and he hadn't even seen the outside of it since he was brought here. How could such a place look so nice on the outside, but be so terrifying on the inside? Here he was, standing outside, safe, no chains attached to his ankles. He should be happy, glad that he's out, but yet he can't stop thinking about Jongin. Was Chanyeol even inside? 

It doesn't matter though, no, not when he hears a gunshot go off from inside. With all the strength and adrenaline he can muster, he rips himself from Junmyeon's grip, immediately running inside. His feet are moving on their own; it feels like an out of body experience. He looks around the hall wildly, eyes bulging as he tries to figure out where the gunshot came from. He pauses. He can hear shouting.

He sprints around a corner, nearly throwing himself into the back of an officer as a result. The officer turns to question him, though Baekhyun doesn't hear a single word that's said because all he can see in front of him is a bloodied and unconscious Jongin and a bleeding Chanyeol with a knife sticking out of his chest. 

"Oh my god." Baekhyun doesn't know who behind him said that, maybe Minseok, maybe Kyungsoo. Baekhyun can feel his entire body shaking as he stares at the sight in front of him. Jaeyul was on the floor, he didn't know if he was dead or not. Did Chanyeol do that or the police officer? 

"C-Chanyeol!" Baekhyun cries out as he feels his body come back to life. He shoves the officer in front of him to the side, darting over to the man that was standing absolutely still against the wall, hands around the sharp weapon that stuck out from his chest. "Oh god, oh god." He trembles as he hesitantly steps towards the man. He didn't even think Chanyeol could see him. "This isn't how I wanted us to meet again." He whispers as he places his shaking hands on Chanyeol's soft cheeks. "Chanyeol," he calls out softly, tilting his head so that he would be in his line of vision. "Chanyeol, can you hear me?" 

He watches as Chanyeol blinks slowly, his face drained of color as he begins to nod in and out of consciousness. "Chanyeol, Chanyeol you need to stay with me, okay?" He pats his cheeks gently, whimpering when it didn't seem to be working. He would nod off for a few seconds before snapping back up to look at Baekhyun, and he swears each time Chanyeol did that his heart broke. "Chanyeol, please." He chokes out, gently taking his hands from the knife and intertwining his fingers with his own. "There's so much we haven't been able to do yet. I haven't even gotten to talk to you since coming back, you can't die. We can't reunite only for you to leave me. How would that be fair for either one of us? Huh?" He feels tears start to stream down his cheeks as he glances down at the knife before glancing back up at Chanyeol's face. This wasn't working, Chanyeol wasn't snapping out of this daze. What was he supposed to do? 

 _"Chanyeol."_ His voice is desperate and pleading. 

He watches in shock when Chanyeol jerks in his spot, eyes widening as he starts to look around wildly. Baekhyun jumps when Chanyeol lets out a startled scream, staring down in absolute horror at the knife protruding from his chest. "Oh, oh god. Okay, this is bad, right? Isn't it? Should I just pull it out?" Baekhyun can't even open his mouth to tell him how that's a bad idea before Chanyeol tries to lunge on him. "Baekhyun!"

"Chanyeol, no!" He shouts as he dodges, throwing his hands out in front of him. "Y-You'll push your knife in further!" He panics as he nervously glances at Chanyeol. "You'll kill yourself you idiot." More tears begin to stream down his cheeks when Chanyeol leans forward and attempts to wipe them away with his coarse hands, Baekhyun whimpering as he places one of his hands over his own, leaning into his touch. 

"Are you real?" Chanyeol's voice is soft and shaky, Baekhyun having to lean forward to even hear what was said. Baekhyun's looking at Chanyeol with wide eyes, trying to figure out how to get Chanyeol out of here. He doubted that Chanyeol would let the police carry him off, not when he's finally seen Baekhyun after all this time. He feels his heart flutter in his chest when he looks up and locks eyes with Chanyeol. How much has he suffered while he was gone? His expression looks so torn, afraid, hesitant. It's almost as if he doesn't want to believe that he's actually here in front of him. He squeezes his hands gently as he tries to figure out what to do. Chanyeol looks only seconds away from crying and Baekhyun wants nothing to do but to protect the man in front of him. "Please tell me ~~\--~~ "

Baekhyun can't really tell you why he did what he did, but in that moment it just seemed right. He cuts Chanyeol off before he can fully make himself into a nervous wreck, pressing his lips against Chanyeol's. It's something he's always wanted to do for a while, though it's something he's always kept stored away in the back of his mind. He lifts a shaky hand and rests it on the back of Chanyeol's head, his fingers curling into the locks of his hair. Chanyeol's dazed and unresponsive and Baekhyun thinks about pulling away before Chanyeol seems to snap out of it, kissing him back with just as much passion.

Maybe it's something that's been long overdue, or at least Baekhyun feels that way as he moves his shaky hands to rest on his cheeks, though a quick reminder of the situation they're in yanks Baekhyun back into reality, the shorter suddenly pulling away with wide eyes. His cheeks redden naturally when he catches the glossy and glazed look Chanyeol is giving him, Baekhyun stumbling to his feet before helping him up. "We have to go now. I need to get you to a hospital." He says as police officers rush over to them, paramedics not too far behind them. "We'll be together soon, okay?" He says to a frantic Chanyeol who's being placed on a stretcher, the younger man trying to grab hold of Baekhyun's hand. 

Baekhyun tries to follow after him, making it all the way to the front yard before being stopped by an officer. He doesn't listen to the words that are said to him, his eyes glued to Chanyeol until he's loaded up in the back of an ambulance truck. His eyes shift over to Jongin who's being loaded into another ambulance with a woman who's wrapped in a thick blanket, though she looks relatively unharmed compared to Jongin and Chanyeol. 

"I want to go too." Baekhyun hears himself say as he tries to once again walk toward Chanyeol, though he's pulled back again. Something about not enough room, not safe, he wasn't sure. He didn't care. He feels a gentle grip around his wrist, Baekhyun turning his head to see Yixing standing beside him. "You need to go back to the hospital, Baekhyun. When you're readmitted, I'm sure you'll be allowed to see Chanyeol once he's okay and in the clear. He shouldn't be under stress so soon after an injury like this." Baekhyun wants to yell at everyone for being so calm, but when he takes a second look at Yixing he swallows his words. He looks exhausted, dark and deep bags under his eyes, eyebrows furrowed, skin a sickly pale. He looked rough, and that was just a kind way of putting it. Baekhyun shouldn't forget that he's not the only one that saw Jongin slumped and bloodied in the hallway or Chanyeol sliding down a wall with a knife in his chest. Everyone else saw it too, not just him. 

"Come on; you can't stay out in this rain. You're already injured, you want a cold on top of that?" Had it been raining? Baekhyun looks up when feeling several drops fall onto his face. He was soaked. Yixing was soaked. Everyone was soaked. How long had it been raining? He silently grabs on to Yixing's hand when it's offered, stumbling blindly as Yixing guides him back to one of the police cars. He allows Yixing to sit him in the seat, carefully leaning over the shaking man ~~\--~~ how long had he been shaking? ~~\--~~  and buckling him into the seat. "It's okay, Baekhyun." Yixing's voice is soft and it offers him comfort. "It's over now. It's all over now, now you just need to rest and heal." Baekhyun's not sure if the drops rolling down his cheeks were from the rain. 

"It's over?" His voice cracks out as he turns to look at Yixing, the other smiling down softly at him. How was it that Yixing always looked like an angel even when tired or stressed or drenched in cold rain?

"All over." Yixing repeats as he pulls away, his hands making sure that the seatbelt was on him properly. 

Baekhyun feels himself getting choked up, warm tears streaming down his cheeks that he knew now wasn't from the rain. His body shakes as he feels a huge weight removed from his shoulders, hands coming up so he can hide his face behind something. "It's finally over." He sobs out, Yixing standing by the open door of the car and watching silently. It was important for Baekhyun to let everything out of his system. 

Yixing takes a step back, closing the door with a soft click. 

It's the silence in the air mixed with the sound of rain hitting the car windows. It's the sound of Yixing's muffled voice outside the car talking to an officer, the sound of sirens in the distance. It was quiet and loud all at once and yet Baekhyun welcomed that with open arms. He looks up, snapping out of his daze when a tall and dimpled officer opens the car door, getting into the driver's seat. The car door across from him opens as well, though Baekhyun doesn't look over to see who's joining him in the car. Based off the scent of cologne in the air, he'd say Sehun or Jongdae. 

He watches as the ambulances in front of him pull out of the driveway and speed off in the direction of the hospital, eyes shifting over to the seat next to him. It was Luhan who was in the car with him. Odd. They exchange a wordless look with one another before Baekhyun tiredly rests his head on Luhan's shoulder, eyes feeling heavy and sleep approaching him whether he accepted it or not. 

It's when his body jerks slightly and the car starts to move that Baekhyun closes his eyes, allowing sleep to make it's way to him. He opens his eyes after a moment though, looking at the rearview mirror to watch the house, along with the cops still in the front of the house, disappear into the distance as they drove further away from everything. It was finally over. Everything was finally over. 

 

 

 

_Fin._

\---

_A/N:_ _this wasn't supposed to be the ending bUT IT CAME NATURALLY SO IT'S OVER OMG_ _but there's gonna be an epilogue ok don't worry bUT HOLY SHIT GUYS IT'S OVER_

_aLSO if you guys want something that i update daily,,,,,,,, check out my angsty xiuchen[twitter au](https://twitter.com/bbyunminseok/status/1028372135167881221) thnx lmao_


	27. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: this took so long because i wrote it 5 or 6 times so it would come out perfect. i hope you like it and i hope it did the story justice. thank you for always being there.

_May 6, 2021 7:48 am_

 

Baekhyun jolts awake from a dream, his skin slicked in sweat. His chest is rising and falling rapidly as he looks around his bedroom, the room dimly lit from the natural light streaming in through his windows. Even after six months, Baekhyun was still having nightmares about Jaeyul and Rei, Chanyeol and Jongin. It just seemed too good for everything to be over.

He slowly sits up in bed, running a hand through his damp hair. Even after all his therapy sessions he just couldn’t shake everything away. Not that he expected things to be easy, but he was also hoping they wouldn’t be this hard either. He was getting better though, slowly but surely. He didn’t want to let what happened to him control his life. Even if it left him uncomfortable, Baekhyun was forcing himself out of his room, out of the dorms. He was attending parties, social events, family gatherings. He wanted to convince the world that he was okay, even if he wasn’t. It was overbearing, truth be told. To have his members, family, and even all his fans to constantly worry over him. He didn’t want to stress anyone and if by him acting like everything was okay would solve things then so be it.

Still, he wished the nightmares would at least stop.

There’s a sudden knock on his door that startles him. That was a thing now. Every small movement, noise, whatever it be, scared him. It was something he was working on. His therapist said it would go away with time.

“Hey.” Chanyeol pokes his head in the room after opening the door, a lopsided grin on his face.

“Hey.” Baekhyun chokes out. Chanyeol had this effect on him where he would always take his breath away. He wasn’t sure if he liked that or not yet. His therapist also said that would go away with time. He wasn’t so sure about it that time though. “You’re up early. It’s not even eight yet.”

“So are you. I came to wish you a happy birthday.” There’s a proud smile on his lips as he speaks with his chest puffed out. “Was I the first one to wish you a happy birthday?”

“You’re speaking as if you didn’t spam my phone last night at midnight on the dot.” There’s a moment of silence before the two erupt into laughter. He watches with an adoring smiling as Chanyeol pushes the door open more, happily making his way into his room before plopping himself on Baekhyun’s bed. “So, birthday boy, what is it that you wanted to do today?” He does a playful jab to Baekhyun’s arm while he speaks.

“Honestly? Nothing.” He immediately regrets what he says when he sees the disapproving and concerned look on the other’s face. “I don't mean it like _that_. I don’t plan on moping around all day or anything. I just want a day off to hang out with everyone here. I don’t need a giant party or this huge social gathering or whatever. Let’s just binge watch movies on the couch tonight and order Chinese takeout.”

“You promise that you’re doing this because you want to? Not because you’re upset?” He leans forward to eye Baekhyun carefully, to make sure that if he’s lying he’ll catch it instantly. “Because if you’re lying to me I’ll be really sad ~~\--~~ ” He’s shushed when Baekhyun leans forward and presses his lips against Chanyeol’s soft ones, his eyes fluttering shut while he lets out a quiet hum. He pulls away only after a few seconds, his heart soaring in his chest when he opens his eyes to see a wide smile plastered on Chanyeol’s face.

“Since when could I lie to you? I wouldn’t want a sad Chanyeollie.” Reaching his hand out, he teasingly pinches Chanyeol’s cheek. Really, Baekhyun would rather die than see Chanyeol upset because of him. Since Chanyeol’s discharge from the hospital nearly three months ago, Baekhyun’s made sure not to take any moment with him for granted. To be reunited with him only to nearly lose him again right after was too much. Baekhyun wanted to spend as much time with the other as possible. “How is your chest feeling?”

“It’s feeling better.”

“Is the scar still hurting?”

“Only sometimes.” Baekhyun had a tendency to worry over the other, but he couldn’t be blamed. Even though the doctors informed him that the wound looked worse than it actually was, that didn’t stop the fear that he might lose him.

“And your taking your medication when it hurts?” Baekhyun’s eyes are narrowed as he eyes the other suspiciously.

“Yes, _mom_.” Chanyeol laughs when Baekhyun punches his arm lightly. “You should come into the kitchen. Actually, I was sent in here to get you. I just got distracted along the way.” Baekhyun only shakes his head at this. Great, how long had the others been waiting on him thanks to Chanyeol? Then again, what were they expecting when they sent Chanyeol? The boy got distracted by everything. He was like a puppy in that regard.

He slips his hand into Chanyeol’s, a warmth spreading throughout his chest as their fingers intertwine. His feet slide into the slippers by his bed, the two then getting up and heading out of his room. “I’m surprised everyone managed to get up so early. That’s no easy feat. How long did it take to drag Jongin and Sehun out of bed?”

“A good hour.” Chanyeol comments while they make their way down the hall.

“An _hour?_ ” He nearly shouts. “How long have you guys been awake?”

“Since five. Kyungsoo wanted to make the perfect cake for you and you know how Junmyeon gets when it comes to decorating for birthdays. He gets all excited with the streamers and banners.” He explains while they round a corner. “Junmyeon stayed up so late decorating last night, actually, I don’t know if he ever went to bed. Now that I think of it, he was a little too cheery this morning.”

“He’ll probably be the first one to pass out while watching movies tonight.”

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

Baekhyun jumps from the sudden shouting when they enter the living room that’s attached to the kitchen. “Ouch.” Chanyeol mumbles while Baekhyun removes his nails from his hand. “Sorry.” He mutters sheepishly to the taller.

“Happy birthday, Baekhyun!” Junmyeon’s overly excited and bouncing in his spot as he clings to Sehun’s side, the younger still nearly half asleep. “Do you want to do anything for your birthday?”

Baekhyun quickly shakes his head. “I just want to hang out with you guys.” He smiles bashfully while looking around the room. “It looks really nice. You decorated well.” He points out when seeing the multi-colored streamers strung up, as well as the blue balloons everywhere. “Why so early though? Don’t people usually surprise their friends with cake on their birthday in the afternoon? Or after seven in the morning?” He asks while rubbing his eyes tiredly.

“We wanted to make sure that you started the day off right.” Kyungsoo says while nervously tapping his fingers against the counter. “And Luhan and Yeon are dropping by later to surprise you ~~\--~~ ”

“Kyungsoo! That’s supposed to be a _surprise!_ ” Jongin whines while stomping his foot.

“Yeah, but his therapist said no big surprises like that.” He huffs quietly.

“That’s insensitive don’t say that in front of him.” Jongin grabs his crutch and waves it in Kyungsoo’s direction, nearly falling back in the process if it hadn’t been for Minseok who was standing behind him.

“Jongin, please stop using your crutch as a weapon.” Junmyeon sighs as he helps him regain his balance. “If you fall over you could pull some of your stitches.” Baekhyun can’t help but laugh when he sees the childish argument break out between Kyungsoo and Jongin. He was glad that Jongin was reverting to his old ways again. He’d only been out of the hospital for a month and a half now and the members were certainly babying him. His wounds had been more intense than his, Chanyeol’s, or Yeon’s. He won’t talk about what Jaeyul or Rei did to him, but Baekhyun doesn’t think he wants to know if he doesn’t want to talk about it. He might need more intensive therapy than he does. But maybe that could be after all his physical therapy is done. He still had another year of physical therapy left and even then, no one was sure if he’d be able to rejoin EXO. As of now he’s labeled as an inactive member, but maybe once he heals he can come back. Unfortunately, Baekhyun doesn’t think Jongin will be able to dance again in the way he used to. He tries not to think about it too much. It depresses him.

“I was thinking about ordering Chinese takeout tonight and binge watching movies. Do you think Yeon and Luhan would be okay with that? I don’t know if they want to eat Chinese food after returning from China.” Baekhyun asks as he watches Junmyeon force Jongin to sit down on one of the stools.

“Well, it’s your birthday, not theirs.” Jongdae speaks with a scrunched nose. “They should be grateful they get food at all.”

“Yes, because we wouldn’t feed house guests.” Yixing says with a roll of his eyes. “And you better be nice to Yeon.”

“What about Luhan? You don’t care if we aren’t nice to him?” Baekhyun only shakes his head as he watches Jongdae start to work up Yixing. “So you only care about Yeon, is that it?” A grin forms on his lips as he watches Yixing redden in the face.

“You know that isn’t what I meant.”

“But do I?” Yixing’s only growing more flustered and red in the face and Jongdae’s grinning more and more like an idiot.

“Guys, can’t we just enjoy a birthday for once like a normal group of friends?” Minseok asks while pulling out a stack of plates. “I don’t care that it’s barely eight in the morning. It’s Baekhyun’s birthday, his _first_ birthday back with us, and that’s a good enough excuse to eat cake for breakfast.” Baekhyun watches as Minseok places candles on the cake. “We couldn’t find numbered candles so we just bought a shit ton of candles and hoped it would come out with the right amount.”

“Wow...so thoughtful.” He cringes when seeing the entire surface of the cake covered in candles. He didn’t think he was _that_ old. “Those are twenty-nine candles?”

“Well, maybe more. I wasn’t exactly counting just now.” Minseok’s too unashamed. “Do you think you can blow them all out at once?”

“Is that a challenge?” Baekhyun asks with a small grin on his face.

“I think the cake will look like a bomb when you light up the candles.” Sehun says as he watches Minseok grab a lighter from the counter. “Is this safe?”

“Can’t be that dangerous.” Minseok shrugs with an unconcerned expression. Baekhyun anxiously glances at Chanyeol who only shrugs in response.

“Holy shit!” Jongdae laughs when the cake is finally lit up. “There’s no way in hell Baekhyun can get those all in one go.”

“What? No way! I can totally do it!” Baekhyun defends himself with a pout on his face.

“Anyone want to place any bets? I call that Baekhyun won’t be able to.” Chanyeol speaks up from behind the shorter, Baekhyun spinning around and shooting him a look of exaggerated betrayal with a hand on his chest.

“Oh, I could get some money off this.” Kyungsoo mutters. “I bet twenty that he won’t.”

“I bet twenty that he will.” Jongdae fires back from the other side of the counter.

“Fifteen that he won’t. He definitely won’t.” This time it’s Jongin’s still sitting on the stool Junmyeon planted him on.

“Go hard or go home. Forty that he won’t.” Minseok cracks a smile as he rests his chin on the palm of his hand.

“Guys! You have no faith in me!” Baekhyun shrieks.

“Fifty that he will.”

“Junmyeon, that’s not fair. Not everyone has fifty to throw around like you do.” Jongdae groans out while shaking his head.

“Can he just blow them out so Minseok can cut the cake? I’m hungry.” Sehun nags and nudges Baekhyun’s side.

It’s days like this, days filled with pointless banter between his friends, days filled with laughs and smiles, and days filled with the company of his loved ones that Baekhyun thinks things will finally start to go back to normal. Even if it takes a few months or a few years, it gives Baekhyun a glimmer of hope that he’ll be able to put everything behind him once and for all. That it will finally be over. And maybe that's what keeps him going on days when it gets hard, too overbearing. 

  
  
  
  
  


 

 

And he definitely didn’t blow out all the candles in one go.

_\---_

_A/N: tHATS IT BITCH IT'S THE END OF WHERE HE LIES_

_firstly, omg thank you guys for being so involved with this story and being so supportive. it means the world to me and i'm glad you liked it as much as i did. that being said, i hope i ended it on a good note. i've never ended a chaptered fic before (i'm literally the worst bUT I'M WORKING ON THEM) so this was a new experience for me._

_now that that's been said, time for me to pLUG MY SHIT HERE WE GO_

_hi, i have other fics as well that you might be interested in. i have a slew of one-shots as well as other chaptered stories that are still being worked on. here are just a few of my other works:_

[ _In a World of Madness; It's Just Me & You (Xiuchen AU/ angst/comedy)_ ](https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1342826/in-a-world-of-madness-it-s-just-me-you-angst-sliceoflife-war-android-exo-exok-exom-kai-sehun-characterdeath-chen-xiumin-chanyeol-minseok-lay-yixing-kris-jongin-jongdae-dystopia-joonmyun-suho-sekai-xiuchen-sulay-wuyifan-postapocalyptic-junmyeon-kriswu-futureau-dystopian-warau-dystopianau-androidau-majorcharacterdeath)

_Jongdae is living in a war-torn country when he meets an android named Minseok. Not everything is like it seems._

_[EXO Suicide Squad (Multi-ships AU/ angst/action)](https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1280414/suicide-squad-exo-edition-chansoo-exo-jin-kai-luhan-tao-sehun-baekhyun-chanyeol-minseok-lukai-lay-yixing-kris-jongdae-kyungsoo-xiuchen-layhan-sulay-krisbaek-taohun-junmyeon-yoongi-jimin-kaixing-bts-jhope-jungkook-suga-taehyung-namjoon-hoseok-hobi) _

_it's pretty self explanatory_

[ _The Three Hybrids One-Shots (Multi-ships AU/ comedy/fluff/romance)_ ](https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1334729)

_A collection of EXO one-shots involving hybrid Yixing, Chanyeol, and Jongdae._

 

_I also have a[ twitter](https://twitter.com/bbyunminseok) where I make Xiuchen twitter aus! Do check it out if you'd like. :)_


	28. Title List

So, you might have noticed or maybe not, but a lot of chapters are named after a song so I thought I'd just list out and link the songs that they're from in case anyone was interested lol

Chapter 1 (It's Raining Again): [Lost Son - Oh look it's raining again](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDigrMfMO60)

Chapter 2 (Tell Me What You Feel): [BrandonW3 - tell me what you feel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0BGmSom6LU) 

Chapter 3 (I Will Wait For You To Come Home): [KUPLA - I will wait for you to come home](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ay9XCxmpjE)

Chapter 5 (It's You and Me): [nion - you & me ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQNUCIS2pus)

Chapter 7 (I Fall Apart): [Post Malone - I Fall Apart](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sHKUpOVMO0)

Chapter 8 (Living the Sweet Life but It Still Tastes Bitter): [biosphere - living the sweet life, but it still tastes bitter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-5laHgRckM)

Chapter 10 (White Noise): [Disclosure feat AlunaGeorge - White Noise](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTwCgK-zTEs)

Chapter 11 (Two Ghosts): [Harry Styles - Two Ghosts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSqLLiuHicw)

Chapter 12 (Lonely Nights): [papi - lonely nights](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29V9kCut06E)

Chapter 13 (Hell is Where I Dreamt of You): [Blackbear - hell is where i dreamt of u and woke up alone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLUukVnuWhQ)

Chapter 16 (Nothing Left for You): [Sam Smith - Nothing Left For You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nict1fv9vN8) (YouTube doesn't have the proper audio without it being sped up like shit, but Spotify has it ;D)

Chapter 20 (Boum! It's Revenge, Baby!): [Charles Trenet - Boum](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0KWyWwVp0E)

Chapter 21 (Cold): [Rich Brian - Cold](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q17z9a03YaM)

Chapter 24 (Last of Me): [BTS - Last of Me (Best of Me Sad Ver.)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQRONF8O2HU)

Chapter 25 (Last Dance): [BIGBANG - Last Dance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--zku6TB5NY)


End file.
